Digital Threat
by DigitalLord
Summary: Someone is sending Digimon troops to the Real World! Can the Tamers stop them in time to save the world... And themselves?


Digimon Tamers:  
  
Digital Threat  
  
Our story begins in a facility hidden from the public eye....  
  
"Sir?" A small lizard-like creature cowered in front of a large desk. "What is it, now?" A figure said from behind the chair. "The reports are in, sir.... Our spies have just crossed over." "Excellent." The voice replied, "Everything is on schedule then?" "Yes sir." The smaller creature replied happily. "Then it will only be a matter of time before the rest of you can begin your part of the plan... Now go. Get back to work." The lizard went into a deep bow and left the room. "Soon..." The shadowed figure laughed. "Soon...."  
  
It had been two days since Takato had found Guilmon, and since then, he had been worried sick his parents would find him. His luck seemed to be changing, though. He had recently found a small tunnel in the park Guilmon could live in without much chance of some people passing by and finding him. "Takatomon? Do you have any more food?" Guilmon said. Takato laughed. "Guilmon,it's just Takato, not Takatomon. And here." He tossed him a roll. "Thanks Takatom- uh, Takato!" Takato laughed again and Guilmon took a bite out of the roll.  
  
Takato remembered back to yesterday. A girl named Rika had shown up with a Renamon and challenged him to a duel, but they were interrupted when they found a boy named Henry and a Terriermon fighting with a Gizamon close by. They had helped him out, and the Gizamon retreated.  
  
Just then, Guilmon dropped the remainder of his roll and looked up sharply. "What's wrong, boy?" Takato asked nervously. "Digimon...." Guilmon mumbled. He ran off quickly before Takato could do anything. "No, wait! Come back, Guilmon!" But Guilmon ignored him. He kept running until he came to a stop under a tree on the other side of the park. "Guilmon, what are you doing?" Takato yelled. "Do you want to be seen by someone?" Guilmon looked at him. "I'm sorry, Takato, but there's a Digimon around-" Just then, a small Digimon jumped out of the tree and right onto Guilmon's head. "Owwww! Who are you?" Guilmon asked as he rubbed his head. "Impmon, a Rookie level Digimon. His attacks are Night of Fire and Summon." Takato read off his D-Arc.  
  
"Hey, you!" Impmon said, pointing to Guilmon. "I ain't seen you around here before! Who are you?" Guilmon looked at him and smiled. "I'm Guilmon! Nice to meet you!" He stuck out his hand to shake Impmon's, a human gesture Takato had taught him. Impmon looked at Guilmon's hand, then tossed a fireball into it. "Guilmon, huh? What are you doing hanging around a human, huh? You one of those tamed Digimon? You big baby!" He added when he saw Guilmon nursing his burnt hand.  
  
"Take it from me, humans are nothing but trouble. You need to stay away from them!" "Hey, wait a minute..." Takato muttered. "Shaddap! I didn't ask you, human!" Impmon yelled, "This is between me and Guilmon here!" "Thanks, but I like Takato. I'm going to stay with him." Guilmon said cautiously, not wanting another fireball flung at him. "Fine. Suit yourself, ya big lug. I tried to warn you, but I gues you're too stupid to know good advice when you hear it!" Impmon shrugged and began to walk away.  
  
"Wait!" Takato called after him, but he kept walking. Takato began to go after him, when he saw something moving in the small stream nearby. He went over to check it out, when... "Spiral Saw!" A large buzz saw flew by! He barely had enough time to jump out of the way, and it grazed his cheek, creating a small cut. "Takato!" Guilmon ran forward to see a Gizamon advancing on Takato. "You again!" Guilmon growled. "Leave us alone, you meanie! Pyro Sphere!" Gizamon jumped over the attack and toward Guilmon. He kicked him in the face and sent him reeling.  
  
"You stupid Digimon! You think you can beat me?" He laughed and kicked him again. Guilmon didn't budge this time, and clawed at Gizamon instead. "Pyro Sphere!" He yelled, and a fireball streaked toward Gizamon, hitting him. He fell backwards into the stream, then got out and broke into a run toward Guilmon. "Spiral Saw!" He screamed, as a buzz saw cut Guilmon in the side, bringing him to the ground. "Now to finish this! I have bigger fish to fry!" Gizamon laughed.  
  
Just then, a fireball hit him in the back, and he fell forward. "Hehe. Take that, baby! Baboom!" Impmon laughed and walked toward Gizamon. "Don't take this personally, pal. I just need your data to get stronger!" He said as he tossed another fireball at him, deleting the frog Digimon. He burst into data, and Impmon stood still for a moment, absorbing it all. "Hey," He said when he was through, "I didn't do that for you two, either. Next time, I'm gonna let them kill you, and absorb your data! Haha!" With that he jumped away.  
  
Takato and Guilmon went back to Guilmon's little hiding spot, only to find Henry and Terriermon there. Takato had told them where they could find him or Guilmon at, so he wasn't too surprised to see them. "Hello." Henry said as he saw them arrive. Terriermon was too busy walking along a fence line to greet them. "Hey, Henry! Guess what? We just fought Gizamon again!" "So I take it you deleted him this time..." "Well... we didn't. A Digimon named Impmon did." "Huh?"  
  
Terriermon looked up at the mention of Impmon, and promptly fell of the fence. "Ow.... did you say Impmon? That guy came up to me yesterday and started insulting Henry! I got mad and kicked him, though. What's his problem, anyway?" They looked at Terriermon. "You've sen Impmon before?" Henry asked. "Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you!" Terriermon said sheepishly. "Anyway, Takato, what happened?" "Well, Gizamon jumped us, and it happened pretty quickly. We would've beaten him, given a little more time. I didn't even slash any cards." "I see. Well, now he won't bother us anymore..." "Haha...." A small voice laughed. "Who's there?" Terriermon demanded as he looked around. "You Tamers are so stupid.... Gizamon was the least of your worries. Demi Dart!" A dart struck Guilmon and he fell over.  
  
Demidevimon fluttered out of the trees. "You Digimon don't stand a chance. Demi Dart!" Another dart hit Guilmon and he groaned in pain. He began to get up, but Terriermon put his hand up. "Let me have some fun, Guilmon!" He said with excitement. "Terrier Tornado!" A small whirlwind swept DemiDevimon up and he crashed into a tree. "Ow! You little pest!" A dart flew at Terriermon, but he jumped over it and kicked DemiDevimon. "Bunny Blast!" A beam of energy shot out of his mouth and into DemiDevimon's face, knocking him into the ground, where Terriermon proceeded to land on his stomach. "G-get off! DemiDevimon yelled as he flipped over, tripping Terriermon.  
  
"Demi dart! "A dart struck Terriermon in the back of the neck. "You'll pay for that you.... you.... whoa..." Terriermon started to get dizzy from the dart. He stumbled forward a bit, then jumped at DemiDevimon. The small Digimon chuckled and flew out of the way, but as Terriermon flew past, he jerked his body around to face DemiDevimon. "Bunny Blast!" He yelled before he hit the ground. DemiDevimon gave a cry of surprise, then fell to the ground as well.  
  
Terriermon got up and walked over to DemiDevimon's twitching form. "Why do you guys keep attacking us?" Terriermon asked with anger. DemiDevimon just laughed and looked at Terriermon. "You think you're so cool, huh? Beating me and all. Well, I'm not exactly a fighter. You'll be up against much worse than me soon." He began to laugh again, and Terriermon gave a look of anger. "Bunny Blast!" He yelled, and DemiDevimon's form split into data fragments.  
  
As Terriermon absorbed the data, Henry ran over to him. "Terriermon!" He yelled angrily, "Why'd you do that? We could have found out who he was talking about." "He was annoying me..." Terriermon muttered. Henry gave a sigh and began to walk back to Takato. "I think we should warn Rika, since strong Digimon are apparantly coming this way." Takato nodded and they set out for Rika's house.  
  
"Dum-de-dum!" On the other side of town, a small white Digimon hopped along on the sidewalk, gaining the stares of people passing by. This little Digimon didn't seem to notice, however, as he hummed happily to himself. He spotted a man sitting on a bench, licking an ice cream cone. "A new friend!" The Digimon thought with glee. He trotted over and hopped onto the bench beside the man. "I'm Calumon!" He said, "Wanna play with me?" The man dropped his cone and stared at the little creature, before giving a shriek and running off in terror. "Huh." Calumon thought sadly. "Guess he doesn't like to play."  
  
Henry and Takato were exchanging nervous glances as they stood on Rika's doorstep. Rika wasn't exactly a friendly person, and they weren't sure that she would even appreciate them coming to warn her about the danger she faced. Takato knocked, and they waited. Finally, a young girl answered the door. "You two!" She said with a touch of annoyance in her voice. "What do you want?" "Rika..." Takato started, "We need to tell you something." He looked at Henry.  
  
"There seems to be some Digimon after us, besides Gizamon." "Yeah, I know." Takato and Henry 's jaws dropped. "How did you know?" Takato asked. "A while ago, Renamon and I were attacked by a Psychemon. Renamon took care of it fairly quickly, and absorbed the data. So what's the problem?" "Well.... there are stronger Digimon coming. At least, that's what the DemiDevimon we fought said." "Stronger Digimon?" Rika laughed. "It took Renamon maybe a minute to take out Psychemon, I'm not exactly worried about their idea of 'stronger Digimon'. Now go away!" Rika shut the door and left the two boys looking quite surprised.  
  
"Well," Takato grumbled as they walked away, "That didn't go like I thought it would..." "Well, we tried to warn her, Takato. It's not our fault if she get's hurt by the Digimon." They were going back to the park to see Guilmon and Terriermon, who they had told to stay at Guilmon's little hideout. When they got there, however, Terriermon was looking frantic and Guilmon was nowhere to be found. "Where's Guilmon?" Takato asked nervously. "He wouldn't listen! I told him to stay here, but he just ran off to find the Digimon that just appeared, and-" "Wait a minute!" Henry interrupted, "A Digimon just appeared? Where?" "Over there somewhere!" Terriermon pointed a little hand over in the direction of the Downtown area. "Lead the way." Henry said as Terriermon hopped down the steps and ran towards the Digimon.  
  
As they ran, Takato was thinking about Guilmon. "What if he's hurt? What if the Digimon is too powerful for him?" Henry looked over, and, as if reading his mind, said "Don't worry, Takato, I'm sure Guilmon's fine! He can handle himself!" Takato smiled. He was happy to hear Henry consoling him, and was about to tell them so, when they turned a corner and saw Guilmon.  
  
"Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon shot a small fireball at a rabbit-like Digimon, who jumped out of the way. "Gazimon..." Takato mumbled as the information appeared on his D-Arc. "A Rookie level Digimon. His attacks are Electric Stun Blast and Pitfall." Gazimon laughed out loud at Guilmon. "Too slow, fool! Electric Stun Blast!" He hit Guilmon with a small bolt of electricity, which apparently annoyed him more than it hurt him. "Pyro Sphere!" He called out again, but this time he was much closer, giving Gazimon no time to dodge.  
  
Gazimon tumbled to the ground and let out a grunt of pain. He looked down at his rugged fur coat, to see a black scorch mark in it where the attack had connected. "Grr.... You'll pay for that!" He leapt at Guilmon, clawing and biting at the bigger Digimon. Guilmon was taken back by this sudden assault, but pulled Gazimon off quickly, then tossed him back onto the asphalt. Gazimon got up and brushed some dirt off his arm. "You stupid fools. I may not be able to beat you..." He jerked his thumb behind him. "But he can!"  
  
An Apemon walked out of the alley, apparently having watched the whole fight. He gave no sign of emotions as he stared at Guilmon. "Uh, Guilmon? That's a Champion level Digimon.... This could get ugly..." Guilmon gave a gulp and looked nervous. Apemon was on him in a flash. He jumped at him, and knocked him backwards into a building with his bone. "Bunny Blast!" An energy beam hit Apemon in the back. He turned and kicked Terriermon in the stomach. He gave a small gasp and fell over.  
  
Gazimon smirked. "Not so tough when you aren't facing Rookies, huh?" He laughed and hit Terriermon with a small energy bolt. Terriermon began to get up and look at Gazimon. "And you get pretty tough once you have a Champion as your bodyguard! Well, don't underestimate us, either... Henry?" Henry nodded. He held his D-Arc high in the air. "Digi-Modify!" He slashed a card through the device. "Hyperspeed, activate!"  
  
Terriermon blurred out of view, startling Gazimon. Suddenly, he came back into view behind him. "Surprise! Bunny Blast!" Gazimon was hit in the small of the back by the blast and went flying. "Not talking so big anymore, huh?" Terriermon snorted. Gazimon began to get up again, but Terriermon hit him with another blast and he deleted. As Terriermon absorbed the data, Apemon's eyes glittered with malice, but he quickly hid his emotions once again.  
  
He lunged at Terriermon and hit him in the head with his bone, knocking him out. He turned to Guilmon and began to walk towards him. "Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon yelled out, as a fireball flew toward Apemon. He was hit in the shoulder, but showed little sign of pain. Guilmon hit him with two more attacks, and they both struck, each one slowing him for a second, but he kept walking. As he lifted his bone over his head to strike, a fox-like Digimon appeared behind him.  
  
"Pick on someone your own size. Diamond Storm!" Shards of diamond flew at Apemon, who blocked most of them, but was struck in the face by a few. "Renamon!" Takato called out with relief. "You were expecting Santa Claus?" A voice called from behind them. Rika was standing there, arms crossed. "I'm so glad you came!" Henry called out. "I don't know if we can do this without you!" "Whatever. I'm here for the data. Renamon." Renamon nodded at Rika, then turned to Apemon. "Diamond Storm!" the shards flew at Apemon once again, but this time he jumped out of the way, then came down on Renamon's head with a sickening crunch.  
  
"Renamon!" Rika called out with a hint of worry. "Hang on!" She held up her D-Arc. "Digi-modify! Hyper-speed activate!" Before Apemon's bone hit Renamon's head, she blurred out of the way and appeared behind him. "Diamond Storm!" She cried for the third time. This time, it connected, and Apemon fell to the ground in pain. Renamon attempted to bring her foot down on his head, but he rolled out of the way and grabbed her foot. He smirked at her, then threw her into a nearby car. "Renamon, no!" Rika ran towards Renamon. Apemon began to walk towards the both of them, then broke into a run.  
  
As he got closer though, Guilmon's voice rang out. "Pyro Sphere!" A fireball hit Apemon in the back of the head and sent him sprawling. Renamon looked down at him and jumped onto his back, causing him to grunt in pain. "Diamond Storm!" She yelled as she hopped off his back. He began to twitch and jerk as the diamonds struck him. He got up and grabbed Renamon by the throat, then began to hit her with his bone. She tried to escape his grasp, but it was too strong.  
  
"Leave her alone!" Takato yelled furiously. "R-Rika...." Renamon managed to get out as she was battered by her hairy foe. Rika was appalled. This Digimon had taken out Renamon, Guilmon, and even little Terriermon without gaining major damage! He was too strong for the Digimon alone.... Renamon needed her help! "Digi-modify! Offense Plug-In activate!" Renamon's body grew a little bit as she bulked up. She pried Apemon's hand off of her and landed a kick to his side. "Diamond Storm!" Apemon flew back from the enchanced strength of the attack, then gave out a mighty roar and burst into data.  
  
Reanmon absorbed the data as Rika walked up to Takato and Henry. "So...." She started. "So what?" "I... guess you two were right about stronger Digimon. If it wasn't for Guilmon's help, Renamon may not have survived the battle.... I guess.... I owe you two an apology." Takato shook his head. "No apologies needed, Rika. None of us knew exactly how strong the Digimon were going to be. I do think though.... that maybe we should work as a team in the future..." "Takato's right, Rika. The Digimon that appear next might be even stronger than Apemon. If they are, we will need to stick together to survive. So whaddya say? You with us?" Rika looked down, pausing for a second, then looked at them. "Deal." She gave a small smile and they shook hands.  
  
Meanwhile, back at the hidden facility...  
  
"The reports are in, sir." "Well, spit it out." The small Digimon looked nervous. "Uh, Four of our spies are dead...." "Who?" "Gizamon, DemiDevimon, Gazimon, and Apemon..." "Apemon? How could he have died? He's too strong to be killed so quickly by humans!" "Well, sir, it seems that there are three humans that have what seem to be.... Digimon.... partners..." "What?!" The leader behind the desk was furious. "Digimon partners? What level are they?" "All Rookie, sir."  
  
That seemed to calm him down. "Rookies... That's different. They will be easily disposed of. Lizamon!" He snapped his fingers. "Send the word that the spies should withdraw. We have enough information. Now we will send in the foot soldiers." The Lizamon bowed and left. The room was filled with silence once more.  
  
"Anyone get the number of that bus?" Terriermon asked groggily as he came to. "We're going home, Terriermon, just lay back and relax." Terriermon didn't need to be told twice. He fell asleep as soon as the words were out of Henry's mouth. Henry got home and went into his room, laying Terriermon down on his bed. "Jeez." He muttered, "It's later than I thought." He went downstairs to brush his teeth, and then got into bed and fell into a deep slumber.  
  
Henry's sleep was not peaceful, however, but plagued with nightmares. "No...." Henry managed to say as he ran from whatever was chasing him. "Please, no!" He ran and ran until he tripped and fell. The shadowy figure that had been chasing him loomed over him. "Goodbye, Tamer...." It said in a voice that chilled Henry to the bone.  
  
Suddenly, a large green figure covered in armor knocked the figure away with a fist. "Leave Henry alone!" The shadow chuckled and pulled a weapon out that Henry could not see. With a quick attack, the green figure was destroyed and the ominous figure floated toward Henry once more. It laughed and held the indistinguishable weapon over its head, then threw it down towards him. As it touched Henry's flesh, he woke up, dripping in sweat.  
  
"What did it mean?" Henry thought to himself. "Who was that shadow? And the Digimon protecting me... it wasn't Terriermon... Was it his digivolved form?" Terriermon gave a grunt and rolled over on the covers he layed on. "But the Digimon was destroyed... If anything happened to Terriermon, I don't know what I'd do...." He lay there pondering the meaning of his dream.  
  
The next morning, he had decided not to mention the dream. No sense worrying everyone, he'd thought. He began to walk to school with Terriermon on his back. He usually accompanied Henry to school, then hung out in a tree near the school until Henry was let out. Henry had offered to let him stay at his house, or with Guilmon, but he seemed to like being near Henry better.  
  
As Terriermon jumped off Henry's shoulders and flew up into the leaves of the tree, Henry looked at him. "I hope nothing happens to him. He's my best friend. If he were to die..." He thought to himself. "Henry, are you all right? You look sad." "It's nothing, Terriermon. See you this afternoon!" He left and entered the school.  
  
"Bored, bored, bored!" Terriermon mumbled as he paced up and down the limb. "I wish school only lated a few minutes, this tree gets old after a few hours!" "Bored, huh?" A voice laughed. Terriermon was startled by the new voice. He turned to see Impmon sitting in a limb above his. "Stuck here, waiting for your human, huh? Hahaha! Pathetic!" "Leave me alone! I don't wanna hang out with you!" Impmon dropped onto Terriermon's limb. "Who said anything about hanging out? I just wanna tell you to get away from that human of yours! I've said it once, I'll say it again, humans are bad news!" "I'm warning you... get out of the tree..." "Fine, spoilsport!"  
  
Impmon hopped out of the tree. "But before I go... Let's have a little fun!" He smiled mischeviously and lit a fireball over one of his fingers. "Watch and learn. Baboom!" He hurled the fireball at a classroom window and laughed as children began to scream. "See ya!" He leapt out of sight.  
  
Henry had just been sitting in his math class, trying to keep awake, when all of the sudden, a fireball broke the window and hit a desk! The student sitting in it was scared out of his wits and flung himself to the floor beside it, rolling his way away from it. Henry looked out the window to see Terriermon looking in frantically, mouthing "Impmon!" Henry was enraged. That idiot Impmon could set the whole school on fire if the desk isn't put out! Luckily, he was a quick thinker and ran into the halls. He grabbed a bucket out of the custodian's closet and filled it with water as fast as he could. He ran back in the room and threw it on the desk, dousing the flames.  
  
As Henry and Takato walked home from school, Takato looked at Henry. "What caused that fire, anyway?" Terriermon wiggled frantically on Henry's back. "Impmon! He started talking bad about you again, Henry, and then he threw a fireball into the school!" Henry sighed. "What's his problem, anyway?" They went to Guilmon's place in the park to meet up with him.  
  
"Takato!" Guilmon said, "Guess what! I found some yummy food today!" He held up a muffin in his claw. "Where did you find that?" "In a bag on a bench!" "Uh, Guilmon, were there any humans around, by any chance?" "Yeah, a lady was standing a couple yards away! I got the muffin without her noticing! Aren't you proud!" "You stole a lady's muffin." Takato said with exasperation, "I'm real proud, all right." "Yippee!" Guilmon jumped up and down, "Takato's proud of me!" "Never heard of sarcasm, has he?" Terriermon grumbled.  
  
As they talked, a figure creeped across the grass trowards them. Guilmon was first to notice. "Look out!" He yelled as he jumped in front of the others. "Pyro Sphere!" A fireball flew at the Digimon, who jumped over it and chuckled. "Igamon." Takato read off his D-Arc. "A ninja Digimon whose attacks are Iga Style Shuriken Throw and Dancing Leaves!" "Isn't he a little small to be a strong Digimon?" Guilmon asked with confusion.  
  
Igamon fell over. "I'm not small!" He yelled, "And I am a tough Digimon, you'll see! Dancing Leaves!" Leaves began to rise off the path he stood on, and flew towards Guilmon. Guilmon was confused, however. How could leaves hurt him? The leaves seemed to have gotten razor sharp, though, as they sliced into Guilmon's flesh. "Oww!" He moaned, "That wasn't nice! Pyro Sphere!" Igamon simply jumped over the attack once more and ran at Guilmon. "Iga Style Shuriken Throw!" He yelled. At the last minute he released the shurikens at Guilmon and jumped over his head. Most of them hit Guilmon, but the ones he dodged, Igamon caught and put them back in their original spot.  
  
"Don't think I'm so small now, huh?" He boasted. "Bunny Blast!" Terriermon hit him from behind, and he stumbled a bit, but quickly regained his compusure. "Little pest. Think you can outdo a ninja? Dancing Leaves!" The leaves flew at Terriermon, who jumped over them into a tree. "Bunny Blast!" He called, as another blast hit Igamon in the head. "Your attacks are mere pinpricks to me, fool!" He jumped up and kicked Terriermon in the jaw, sending him falling to the ground. "Oof... Don't think you'll get away with that! Terrier Tornado!" A little whirlwind flew at Igamon, sweeping him off his feet and back to the ground with Terriermon.  
  
"It'll... take more than a few lucky hits to beat me..." Igamon puffed as he got up. He dived at Terriermon, and tackled him. Terriermon was surpried by this manuever, but quickly came to his senses as Igamon wrestled him to the ground. "Bunny Blast!" A beam of energy hit Igamon right in the eye. He gave a bellow of pain and flew off Terriermon.  
  
"You two aren't as tough as you think...." He groaned. "In fact, you two were dead the minute you challenged us!" "Wait a minute..." Terriermon asked, "What do you mean, us?" "That's right, fool, I'm not alone.... You think I'm tough? Well, In a minute, you will be crying for mercy!" He began to laugh heartily. Terriermon and Guilmon looked around. "I think he's gone crazy..." Terriermon mumbled, "There's no one here!"  
  
Guilmon turned around to look for Igamon's ally. He noticed there was a dead tree stump there he hadn't noticed before! He didn't give this much thought, however, as he continued to search. "Well, your friend will find him soon enough!" Igamon chuckled, "Now finish what you started!" "What I started? You li- oof!" Terriermon yelled as Igamon kicked him in the stomach. "Digi-modify!" Henry yelled, "Hyper Speed, activate!" Terriermon got up and ran into Igamon's stomach, then jumped behind him.  
  
"Terrier Tornado!" He yelled as a small whirlwind threw Igamon into the stump. Igamon groaned, and inspected the stump, apparently checking for damage. Terriermon cocked his head at this strang behavior, but shook it off. "Bunny Blast!" Igamon dodged this blast, but it hit the stump as well. "Cut it out! Look what you've done to this stump!" Guilmon looked confused. "What did he do to the stump?" Igamon shook his head. "Come here close and look."  
  
Guilmon put his head real close to the stump, when he felt a branch on his head. "Branch Drain." said a rougher voice than Igamon. "Haha! Fell for it!" Igamon was shouting. Guilmon began to feel the energy drain from his head. He jumped back, and saw a pair of eyes open on the stump and two hands protrude from under the branches. "Woodmon." Takato read from his D- Arc once again. "A tree-type Digimon. His attacks are Branch Drain and Woody Smash."  
  
Igamon laughed triumphantly. "Now what? Two Rookies against two Champions! Doesn't look good for you two! Hahahaha!" Woodmon gave a smile and looked at Guilmon. "You there. We will battle now. Woody Smash!" Before Guilmon could answer, a branch hit him in the face. "Owww! That hurts! Pyro Sphere!" A fireball hit Woodmon in the side, and he ignited. "Ahhh! No! Get it off!" He fell to the ground and rolled around, stopping the fire before it spread.  
  
"Fool!" He groaned as he got up, "Your fire won't save you from us! Branch Drain!" He dived at Guilmon, who jumped out of the way. "That's it!" Takato laughed. "Digi-Modify! Offense Plug-in, activate!" Guilmon began to emit a low growl. "Pyro Sphere!" A huge fireball shot out, hitting Woodmon right in the face. He began to scream, flailing his arms and running around. "Calm down!" Yelled Igamon as he put a hand on Woodmon, trying to beat out the fire. "Need energy! Branch Drain!"  
  
Igamon screamed as his ally sucked his energy and killed him, making him burst into data. Soon after, Woodmon too fell, unmoving and finally exploding into data. Terriermon absorbed Igamon's data and Guilmon absorbed Woodmon's.  
  
Takato and Henry looked at each other. "The Digimon are getting stronger." Henry said nervously. "Those two were both Champions." "I'm sure our Digimon feel as nervous as us. We beter console them..." They turned to talk to their Digimon, only to see them in the middle of a victory dance. "Guess not." Takato laughed, and they all went home.  
  
Henry had another night filled with nightmares. He had the same nightmare, only he was surrounded by laughing Digimon, cackling at him and tossing things at him. He also was being protected by two other digimon, a large Digimon dressed like a priestess, and a Digimon in red armor. They too, were cut down by his pursuer.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Henry was glad when morning came, he didn't think he could stand the nightmare much longer. He was also glad it was a Saturday. He was not planning on watching any Saturday morning cartoons, however, because he needed to talk to Rika and Takato first. He got dressed, ate some breakfast, and went to the park where they usually met.  
  
When he got there, all the others had arrived. Guilmon and Terriermon were playing some sort of game, while Rika, Takato and Renamon watched. "Henry's here!" Terriermon jumped into Henry's arms and laughed. "Hey, Terriermon!" Henry laughed back, "When did you get here?" "I tried to wake you up, but you wouldn't so I came here. I knew you'd know where to find me."  
  
Rika and Takato looked at him. "Well, Henry, what should we do?" Henry looked down. He knew what Takato was talking about. "I don't know. We can't just let these Digimon keep coming to us. Sooner or later we're bound to get hurt." "Look at it this way, though. We don't know where to look for their base, and even if we find it, don't you think that they would keep even more powerful Digimon there to protect it?" Rika nodded at Takato's logic.  
  
"So," She added, "If we stay here, we're going to keep being attacked by more and more powerful Digimon, but if we go looking for their headquarters, we'll be facing even more powerful Digimon! Either way, we can't stay safe. I say we look for the base!" Takato nodded. "I do, too. If we stop this now, then we might be able to stop all this fighting." Henry looked at them. "But, you guys! Our Digimon are only Rookies! If they can barely handle the Champions they are sending out, how can they handle the guards at that place? What if there are Ultimates guarding it? Even Megas?"  
  
"Well if we just sit around here," Rika said imapatiently, "then they might start sending Ultimates and Megas! And if we beat them here, then they will still have a base to plan in, but if we go destroy the place, then they won't be able to send any more Digimon after that!" Henry looked at Terriermon. "I just don't want Terriermon to get hurt... So I'll go along with you guys. From the sound of it, you'd go without me if I didn't agree to this." They smiled at him. "I knew you'd see it our way!" Takato laughed as he patted Henry on the back.  
  
Henry was walking home when he passed by the school grounds. He felt a tremor and heard a loud explosion. As he turned the corner, he saw the school and gasped. Most of it had been blown away. He looked around to see what had happened. He saw nothing and decided it wasn't safe to be seen hanging around the scene of a major explosion and ran home.  
  
Meanwhile, at the base...  
  
"It has been done, sir." "Excellent..." The boss chuckled and swirled his drink around in his hand. "The Tamers have been destroyed?" "Yes,sir. I have destroyed them all." "How can you be sure of that, BomberNanimon?" "I destroyed the one place all three of them are at during the day!" The boss stopped swirling his drink. "And... that place would be...." "The school." The leader gave a small sigh and leaned back. "BomberNanimon, do you know what today is?" "Um...." "IDIOT! It's Saturday! None of them were in the school! You killed no one! Get out of here, you fool!" BomberNanimon ran out as fast as he could.  
  
The leader took a sip of his drink. "That buffoon has put them on their guard. Now I'm going to have to send in the elite squad to finish them, and I'll get BomberNanimon to go with them. He may be incompetent, but he is strong...." He pressed a button on his desk and resumed drinking.  
  
Henry had decided that it may be safer to go to the park instead of home, if buildings he went to frequently suddenly started blowing up. He didn't want to put his family in danger. He met up with Takato and Rika, who hadn't left the park in the first place. He explained what had happened to the school. They looked shocked. "But... who would do such a thing?" Rika asked. "I don't know, but I have a feeling we need to stay on our guard...."  
  
Calumon hopped along happily. He had hopped all the way to the park, in fact! He liked all the soft grass and tall trees. He smiled at everyone who passed by, getting many stares from people who just weren't used to seeing small white creatures hopping along a park trail. "I wonder why everyone's looking at me?" Calumon thought to himself. "Maybe they want to play!" He smiled at the thought , but every time he hopped toward someone, they backed away. "Huh," He thought sadly as his ears drooped, "Guess not..."  
  
He looked over and saw something that caught his eye. A Digimon! No one else had noticed it, because it was hiding in a tree, pretty well camoflauged. His little heart skipped. "Finally, a playmate!" The Digimon, however, seemed preoccupied, and leapt away from tree to tree, father and farther away from the people. Calumon thought to himself. This was his one chance to play with another Digimon around here, he wasn't going to pass it up! He ran after him as fast as his little legs could go.  
  
Guilmon had picked a hideout prety far away from where most people usually went, like Takato had asked him. He had wondered why at first, but Takato had told him, "If people see you, they'd freak out!" Guilmon pondered this for a bit. "What would happen that would make people 'freak out'?" Just then, a bomb dropped in front of him, and he had to jump backwards to avoid being blown to bits. "Oh, that's what." He thought simply as he saw a BomberNanimon hop out of a tree, along with a few others from other trees.  
  
"Uh-oh....We're in trouble..." Takato groaned as a team of Digimon jumped out of the surounding trees. He looked at his D-Arc as he pointed it at the different Digimon. "Dokugumon. A spider type Digimon. Her attacks are Poison Thread and Arachno Batoto." He looked at the next Digimon. "Sorcerymon. A wizard Digimon. His attacks are Aquarius Fill and Crystal Cloud." He turned again. "BomberNanimon. An invader Digimon. His attacks are Freethrow Bomb and Old Man Punch." He looked at the smallest of the group by far. "Alraumon. A plant Digimon. His attacks are Nemisis Ivy and Gloom Dust." He then turned to the Digimon in front, obviously the leader. "Mummymon. An ancient Digimon. His attacks are Snake Bandage and Nechrophobia." He looked at the fearsome team and suddenly became very nervous.  
  
Mummymon gave a small laugh at the child's fear. "Haha... The little boy is frightened. What's wrong, lad? You stopped Igamon and the others, why are you so frightened?" He glanced at the three Rookie Digimon opposing him. "Oh... I see. You must have won out of luck! Too bad no amount of luck will save you from us... Let's go." All the Digimon leapt different ways, except Sorcerymon who remained leaning against a tree, smirking. Renamon jumped toward BomberNanimon and Dokugumon. Terriermon jumped toward Alraumon, and Guilmon jumped at Mummymon.  
  
Renamon jumped at her arachnid opponent. "Diamond Storm!" She shouted as small shards of diamond hit Dokugumon. She shrugged them off and laughed. "Poison Thread!" Renamon was suddenly covered in sticky web. She fell over and BomberNanimon punched her right into a tree with a Freethrow Punch. Renamon slowly tore the webbing off of her, and leapt back at her foes. "Diamod Storm!" She called out again. This time, the shards got in Dokugumons eyes and blinded her momentarily. BomberNanimon was hit by a few, but managed to hit Renamon with another punch.  
  
Terriermon ran at Alraumon. "Bunny Blast!" He yelled. Alraumon was hit by an energy blast, and stumbled. "I may be a Rookie," He said, "But I've been trained to have the strentgh of a Champion! Nemisis Ivy!" Vines wrapped around Terriermon and swung him into a tree. He turned his head to Alraumon. "Bunny Blast!" He yelled again, singeing one of his vines. He let go and ran at Terriermon, landing a blow to the stomach. "Gloom Dust!" He growled as pollen flew in Terriermon's face. He began to sneeze uncontrollably.  
  
"Is that the best you can do?" Mummymon laughed as Guilmon shot fireball after fireball, each one missing as Mummymon hopped out of the way. "My turn, little one. Snake Bandage!" Bandages shot out from his wrist and wrapped Guilmon up. "Urk.... Pyro Sphere!" Guilmon shot a fireball into the bandages holding him, setting them ablaze. "Think you're smart, eh?" Mummymon laughed. He simply dropped the bandages holding Guilmon, showing they weren't actually connected.  
  
Renamon gained her momentum from the puch thrown at her, and kicked BomberNanimon in the face. He reeled, then swung at her again. He overswung, however, and tripped facefirst in the dirt. Dokugumon was just regaining her sight when Renamon jumped onto her back and yelled "Diamond Storm!" The shards began to stick in Dokugumon's back, causing minor cuts and scrapes. Renamon saw that it did little and began to kick and claw at her in desperation. Dokugumon became annoyed by this painful distraction and bucked her off.  
  
Terriermon sneezed in Alraumon's face as he tried to do a Bunny Blast. He unleashed a small blast, but only big enough to startle Alraumon for a second. That was all Terriermon needed, though, as he shot off a Terrier Tornado and swept him away. He landed a few feet away, tangled in his own vines. "N-no!" Alraumon shrieked as he tried to untangle himself. "Terriermon ran at him. "Bunny Blast!" He yelled as he knocked Alraumon loose of his own vines with a more powerful blast. He got up slowly and tied Terriermon up in more vines, this time, keeping him entangled.  
  
Mummymon pointed his gun at Guilmon. "Nechrophobia!" An energy blast shot out of it and hit Guilmon in the leg. He fell, too hurt to run. "Pyro Sphere!" He yelled, and a fireball hit Mummymon in the chest, but it fizzled out before it could set his bandages on fire. "That almost tickled!" He laughed as he walked towards Guilmon. He pointed his gun at him once again and stopped. "You know, too bad it had to end like this. I'm going to kill you, then your two friends, then the humans. That's no fun to me! Oh, well..."  
  
Calumon stopped and looked at what he saw. A fight! He was excited. He hadn't seen a fight in a long time! He began to hop excitedly until he noticed something. The three Rookie Digimon were about to lose! He had missed the fight... His ears drooped sadly. Suddenly, though, he felt funny, and a bright red light shot from his head.  
  
"No!" All three Tamers cried out. They were watching as their Digimon were being beaten mercilessly into the ground. They had all but given up hope, when their D-Arcs started to glow. "Huh?"  
  
Digivolution  
  
Terriermon digivolve tooo....  
  
Renamon digivolve tooo....  
  
Guilmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon!  
  
Kyuubimon!  
  
Growmon!  
  
The Tamers looked in awe at their new Digimon. They were Champions! Now they might stand a chance! Calumon looked on in amazement too. "Yeah!" He laughed. "They have a chance!" He hopped up and down and ran over to the Tamers. He stopped under Henry, and said, "Those guys look cool!" "Thanks." Henry muttered distractedly. He did a double-take. "Huh?" He said, looking at Calumon, "Who are you?" "Calumon!" He hopped up and down. "What are you doing here?" "Watching the fight, silly!" "Okay...." Henry said, clearly thinking Calumon wasn't all there, and looked back to the fight.  
  
"What now?" Kyuubimon laughed as she looked at her shocked opponents. "How did you... digivolve?...." BomberNanimon stuttered. "My Tamer. Too bad you don't have one to make you strong. Dragon Wheel!" She spun around in a circle, making a fiery dragons head fly at BomberNanimon. He flew back, bouncing off the rocky path. Dokugumon leapt at her, but she dodged and laughed, "Fox-tail Inferno!" Each of her tails lit up at the end and the flames flew at Dokugumon, tripping her.  
  
Alraumon backed away. "A Champion.... This isn't fair... Nemisis Ivy!" His vines flew at Gargomon. "Not this time! Gargo Laser!" Energy pellets sprayed from the ends of his guns at the small plant Digimon. The vines were knocked to the side, and Alraumon went sprawling. "Now to end this! Dum-dum Upper!" As Alraumon got up, he was met with an uppercut, while the gun sprayed pellets into his chin. He flew upwards, and deleted in the air, and Gargomon absorbed his energy.  
  
Sorcerymon's eyes widened. "This isn't good." He thought. "They can turn to Champions, and Alraumon's dead..." He looked over to Mummymon and Growmon. "Snake Bandage!" "Pyro Blaster!" The two attacks met and the bandages were burned up. "Little pest! You can't stop me! Nechrophobia!" He shot Growmon in the stomach with a stream of energy, knocking him backwards a few steps. "Dragon Slash!" He growled as he slashed into Mummymon's thick bandages, cutting them.  
  
"Dragon Wheel!" Kyuubimon yelled as she shot another fiery dragon heads at Dokugumon. The spider Digimon had just begun getting up when the attack hit her in the back, deleting her. Kyuubimon absorbed her data and looked at BomberNanimon, who was backing away. "Fox-Tail Inferno!" Small flames shot at BomberNanimon, he was flung backwards into a large limb hanging from a tree and was knocked unconcious.  
  
Gargomon turned to face Mummymon. "Now you have two Champions to worry about! Gargo Laser!" Mummymmon was pushed back the attack, but ran sideways, shooting off his gun as he ran. The stream of energy hit both Champions and they fell over. "Pyro Blaster!" "Gargo Laser!" They hit Mummymon dead on with there attacks, and he stumbled a bit. Sorcerymon looked at BomberNanimon, then Mummymon. "He needs my help first." He thought as he walked over to BomberNanimon.  
  
Kyuubimon was about to finish BomberNanimon when she heard the attacks ringing out. She saw Mummymon stumble, and knew they could hold out against him a little longer. She turned back to BomberNanimon, but he wasn't there anymore! Sorcerymon was holding him a few yards away. "Help your friends. They'll need you. This Digimon is no threat anymore." He said to her. She growled at him, but as she saw Mummymon wrap up Gargomon, knew he was right and left.  
  
Gargomon fell as heavy bandages wrapped around him. "Dragon Slash!" Growmon slashed at Mummymon's leg, making him trip backwards. "Nechrophobia!" He yelled as he fell. Growmon was hit and he flew into Gargomon. Mummymon got up again. "Fools." He laughed, "You can't beat me, I've already told you. Snake Bandage!" He wrapped Growmon up as well. He turned his gun to them to fire, but was interrupted by a hit to the back. Kyuubimon had landed on his back and leapt off in front of him.  
  
"Fox-Tail Inferno!" She yelled as the small fireballs flew at Mummymon. One fireball sparked on his arm, and caught it on fire. "Get it off!" He bellowed as he beat at the small fire. "Now!" Kyuubimon yelled. Gargomon tore out of his bindings and Guilmon turned his head towards Mummymon. "Pyro Blaster!" "Fox-Tail Inferno!" "Gargo Laser!" The three attacks each caught Mummymon in the chest and he exploded into data, which all three Digimon absorbed.  
  
Sorcerymon stopped running towards the battle. "I'm too late..." He sighed. He shrugged and turned back to BomberNanimon. "In his current condition, he'll die. I better fix that. Aquarius Fill." He placed his staff on BomberNanimon's chest and water began to trickle out of it. Suddenly, BomberNanimon's wounds became less noticeable and he grunted. "Time to go back." Sorcerymon said to the little Digimon.  
  
Kyuubimon turned to Sorcerymon, who was walking off with BomberNanimon under his arm. "And where do you think you're going?" She asked angrily. "Fox-Tail Inferno!" Sorcerymon jumped to the side as small fireballs shot past. "I don't think so. Crystal Cloud!" He held his wand up, and a white fog came out of it. None of the Digimon could see him. He chuckled to himself. Works every time, he thought. He left the park before the fog dissapeared.  
  
Kyuubimon looked around once the fog had cleared. "He got away, Rika." She said with a trace of self-disappointment. "Don't worry about it. You got most of them." She said. Henry looked at her and Takato. "Those guys were the strongest yet, and two of them are still alive. I don't know if we can take this very longer..." Takato nodded slowly. "Yeah... I say first thing tommorow, we go looking for them."  
  
"Hey, guys!" Calumon hopped up and down. "Who are you looking for?" Henry looked at the little Digimon. "Uh, we don't really know. Someone's sending Digimon to fight us." "Digimon?" Calumon asked excitedly, "I know where they're coming from!" "You do?" Henry asked happily. "Where?" "I know where a Digital gate is, where the Digimon have to be coming from! I saw a Gazimon come out a few days ago!" "That's definatly it, all right, if Gazimon came out of it. Thanks Calumon!"  
  
"Hey, you guys sound like you are playing hide-and-seek!" Calumon giggled. "I love hide-and-seek!" He hopped away. "Try to find me!" He called back to them as he hopped away. "Okay... That was weird..." Henry mumbled. "A little off, isn't he?" Gargomon agreed. "Well, we can't just leave him hiding, he's going to show us the Digital gate. You guys go find him." Takato said to the Digimon. All three sighed and went off to find him. They found him fairly easily, as he was hiding behind a bench giggling loudly. As they found him, he hopped away. "Find me again!"  
  
They were still playing when Takato, Rika and Henry went home. They went to sleep as soon as they got home, worn out from all the excitement. The next morning, they each did what they had to do to prepare for a journey, and went to the park.  
  
When they got there, they found their Digimon laying on the ground, fast asleep, in their Rookie forms, along with Calumon sleeping soundly beside them. Terriermon woke up as Henry shook him. He looked at himself. "I'm a Rookie again! I guess I got all the energy taken from me yesterday. Calumon insisted on playing until it was too dark to see anymore!" All the Digimon woke up as Takato shook them. "So Calumon," He said, "How about showing us that Digital gate?" "Uh... What Digital gate?" They gave a sigh, even Guilmon who usually didn't know what was going on. "The Digital gate you saw a Gazimon come out of!" Rika nearly yelled. "Oh, that Digital gate! C'mon!" Calumon ran off. They all looked at each other, then followed him.  
  
Meanwhile, at the base...  
  
"Yes, sir, they killed everyone except myself and BomberNanimon." Sorcerymon looked down. "Even Mummymon..." "Damn!" The leader said, "Those cursed Tamers killed the elite team of fighters I sent? I have no choice now... I'll have to send out someone more powerful..." "You mean... the Devas, sire?" "Yes. They will not fail me. I have total confidence in them." He pressed a button on his desk and leaned back a bit. "Sorcerymon. I know of your special powers. I would like you to stay here at the base for a while, to help out with a few hurt Digimon." Sorcerymon bowed. "I understand, sir. I'll go the sick bay immediately." He left the room. "Yes.. you do that... And meanwhile, the Devas will be preparing to destroy those foolish Tamers that oppose us!" He laughed, and took a sip of his drink.  
  
Calumon hopped along, occasionally stopping to look at something or just play around, but the Tamers kept steering him in the right direction. Finally, they made it to a small place near a little neighborhood. "Here we are!" Calumon laughed, "The gate!" "Uh, where is it?" "Silly! It's right there!" He pointed a tiny hand at what looked like a bush. However, when Takato pulled at it, it moved aside to reveal a portal right underneath it! "Well..." Takato said with a sigh, "Here we go... Now Calumon? Where does this lead?" "The Digital World!" "Right... So we're off to the Digital World!" He stepped onto the portal and fell in. The others looked at the portal, and as they did, it began to pull them in! They all fell in, including Calumon.  
  
Impmon woke up from his nap when he heard familiar voices. "Here we are!" He heard Calumon laugh. He looked down from his tree. Those stupid Tamers, he though, they had woken him up! He was about to show them some manners when he noticed something. "Whaa..." He mumbled, "A Digital gate...." He looked on as Takato walked into it, and seemed to fall through it. He thought to himself, "Man, am I glad I don't have to do that!" But suddenly, he was being sucked out of his tree by the portal! He tried to hang on, but was pulled in shortly after the Tamers and Calumon.  
  
They seemed to fall forever. Takato thought they were going to end up falling for the rest of their lives. But suddenly, as quckly as they had entered the gate, they exited it. They had all landed in a sandy place. "Is this... the Digital World...?" Henry managed to stutter. "Yeah!" Calumon said enthusiastically. "We.... actually made it..." Rika mumbled. They looked around. They seemed to be in the desert. "Calumon, do you know where the nearest safe place is around here?" "Safe? Uh, I don't know!" "Gee, thanks." Renamon walked over the hill to see what she could find. Suddenly, there was a cry of pain from Renamon!  
  
Renamon had been hit from behind by a small rat Digimon. "Haha! you really thought you could just find our base, huh? Well, you'll have to get past me first! All six of me! Six Selves!" The Digimon split into six, and all six leapt at Renamon. "No!" Rika yelled out. "Digi-Modify!" All three Tamers cried in unison. "Digivolution, activate!  
  
Digivolution  
  
Terriermon digivolve tooo....  
  
Renamon digivolve tooo....  
  
Guilmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon!  
  
Kyuubimon!  
  
Growmon!  
  
All six of the rat Digimon growled and backed away. "You really think you can stop me with your tricks? Treasure Pestle!" They all jumped at the three Digimon, hitting them with their two pestles. Takato looked at his D- Arc. The screen that usually showed information on the Digimon was blank. "This isn't good. We don't even know who this Digimon is!" He mumbled. "Well, we should help our Digimon out! Digi-Modify! Hyper Speed activate!" Henry yelled.  
  
Suddenly, Gargomon began to move much faster and turned his guns to the two Digimon closest to him. "Gargo Laser!" The pellets sprayed the two a super speed, and they fell back in pain. Takato got the idea, too. "Digi- modify! Offense Plug-in, activate!" Growmon turned to the two closest to him. "Dragon Slash!" He yelled as he hit the closest one. It fell back and dissapeared. He turned to the next. "Pyro Blaster!" It too dissapeared.  
  
"Digi-modify!" Rika called out, "Metal Enchancement, activate!" Kyuubimon suddenly gained a metal armor coating, and the attacks brought on her by the two rat Digimon did nothing. "Fox-Tail Inferno!" She yelled, as the two rats were knocked off of her and into each other. The remaining four rats looked at each other. "Too... strong..." One mumbled. "Strong, yes! What should we do?" Another muttered. "Shall we retreat?" A third voice said. "That would be good.." They merged to become one Digimon and looked at the three Tamers. "Don't think this is the end, fools! I'll be back! And next time, you won't get so lucky..." He bounded away.  
  
Impmon watched the whole fight in horror from behind a boulder. The Tamer Digimon could go Champion! He couldn't believe his eyes as they beat back six rat Digimon with ease, and not to mention the fox Digimon got a coat of armor thanks to those brat's cards! "Maybe there is something to this Tamer thing... No!" He mentally berated himself, "Don't think like that! Humans are nothing but trouble! They just keep you doing their work for them like a slave! It's much better to be free! But still," He thought slyly, "I better keep an eye on those guys, see what their up to..." He walked along after them once they were a good distance away.  
  
"My feet hurt, Henry..." Gargomon complained as they trudged along through the desert. "Look on the bright side! At least we brought a lot of food!" Growmon said happily as he munched on a roll Takato had given him. "Easy for you to say, you big lug. You're the one chowing down." He retorted. They kept walking, when they noticed something. A large lake! In the middle of the desert! They were ecstatic as they ran towards the refreshing water. They all bent down and drank as much as they could. "Oh, thank you!" Takato moaned as he took a gulp of water. "You're welcome." A voice said from behind them. "They all jumped and backed away. A Shellmon was floating in the water near the shore. "Gargo Laser!" Gargomon called out as he sprayed pellets of energy at Shellmon. Shellmon scowled and ducked beneath the water.  
  
As he surfaced again, he growled at Gargomon. "I don't want to fight, you idiot! You're the ones that came and drank my water!" "Oh." Gargomon said sheepishly, "Sorry." "Yeah, well. I want to make a proposal to you guys." They looked at each other. "Uh, sure..." Henry said. "Well, you'll have to come with me... Follow me." He ducked under the water. They looked at each other, then went under.  
  
"Water.... water...." Impmon crawled along in the sand, moaning and sniffing. He was about to just give up and die when he saw something. The Tamers had found a lake! Fate was smiling at him today! He crawled along towards them, but kept his distance. He waited for what seemed like an eternity for them to leave, when they all dived into the water! He was very curious to see what they were doing, but he decided, first things first, and went to get some water.  
  
He crawled to the edge of the lake and took a sip of the cool water. It tasted like heaven on his lips. He took another drink, and began splashing his face with water. Suddenly, he heard something behind him. He looked back, but didn't see anything. Then, he turned back to take another drink, and there was a large horse-like Digimon drinking beside him!  
  
The Tamers were nervous. They couldn't breathe underwater, and didn't know why they were asked to go underwater, anyway. Shellmon smiled at them and stuck something in there mouths. Suddenly, they could breathe! They looked at Shellmon who smiled again and said, "Aqua lungs." He swimmed downwards, and they followed. Soon, they could make out to be what looked like a large temple in a bubble! They swam up to the edge of it, and Shellmon said, "Don't worry. Just follow me." He swam right into the bubble, and they followed.  
  
They no longer needed the Aqua Lungs as they entered, because the temple was filled with air instead of water. Shellmon looked at them. "Well, here we are. Let me go get the master." He walked off through a large doorway, and they were left in silence. "What... is this place?..." Takato asked in awe as he looked around. "Looks like a temple or something..." Henry mumbled. "Well, do you think these are the guys that have been attacking us?" Rika asked.  
  
"I doubt it. Think about it, this place is completely submerged, yet we've been only been attacked by Digimon that probably couldn't swim this far, except for Gizamon." Henry stated, "And why would they put their base underwater if they had mostly non-aquatic Digimon?" "Good point..." Rika said as she continued looking around.  
  
"Who are you?" Impmon asked nervously to the huge horse. It merely looked down at him and snorted. "I think the question is, who are you?" Impmon began to sweat. "Uh, I'm Impmon." The horse snorted again. "I don't care what your name is, where are your Tamers?" Impmon looked shocked. "What are you..." "Don't play stupid. I can smell the stench of a Tamer on you. You are a Tamer's Digimon." Impmon sniffed at his arm. He couldn't smell anything. "I don't know how you knew I used to have a Tamer, but that's over! No more! Humans are nothing but trouble!" The horse shook his head at Impmon.  
  
"Maybe you should have stayed with your Tamer, small one. Then maybe you would be strong." Impmon was enraged. "I am strong, you walking glue factory! Who are you to say this to me? Huh?" The larger Digimon laughed at him. "You want to see strength, little Impmon?" He kicked Impmon with a hoof, and sent the little Digimon flying into the water. He got out sputtering. "That... does it..." He mumbled as he held the arm that had been kicked, "Now... I'm mad..." He held up his hand and a fireball appeared over each of his three fingers. "Feel my wrath!" He yelled as he hurled the three fireballs at the horse.  
  
The fireballs hit him square in the face. "Bulls-eye! How do you like that?" Impmon laughed. "What a fool." As the smoke cleared out of his face, the horse looked at Impmon once more. "Did you really expect to hurt me?" He kicked him again, and he went flying away from the lake. He got up, coughing up sand. "You big lug.... I'm gonna get you..." He hobbled towards the horse, and threw another fireball at him.  
  
"The master will see you now." Shellmon said. As the Tamers walked through the door, they went through a crowded corridor filled with aquatic Digimon. They finally reached a small door, and went in, and saw the 'master'. It was a large Digimon sitting on the floor in the middle of a large empty room, with a trident by his side. "Dragomon." Takato mumbled, "An aquatic-type Digimon. His attacks are Infinite Tentacles and Forbidden Trident." Dragomon did not smile, nor did he frown. "Have a seat." He said. They all sat down, and he looked them over, then looked at the four Digimon with them.  
  
"There are three Tamers and four Digimon..." He said, "Which of these Digimon is not one of your partners?" "Me!" Calumon smiled at him. "I'm just here for the company!" "That's nice." Dragomon said distractedly. "Well, Tamers. I know of your exploits in the Real World. Having beaten Mummymon and all the others." The three Tamers look at him. "You know about that? How?" Dragomon looked mildy surprised. "I know quite a bit about what goes on. I have my ways of getting information, you know, what with all these Digimon around here." He casually tossed a tentacle in the direction of a crowded hall in another bubble visible from his room.  
  
"So, uh..." "Just call me Dragomon." "Yeah.. Dragomon... What did you want to see us for?" "Well," He sighed. "I'm sure you know that there are extremely powerful Digimon after you. Who have you fought here in the Digital World, anyway? I haven't heard yet." "All we've fought is a little rat-type Digimon who could split into six." Dragomon looked very upset.  
  
"So...they've sent out the Devas to stop you.... This isn't good. That Digimon you fought was Kunbiramon, one of the twelve Devas." "There's twelve of them?" Gargomon asked with surprise. "Well, Kunbiramon was pretty easy for the three of us combined, I guess they aren't so bad..." "Aren't so bad?" Dragomon scoffed, "Kunbiramon is by far the weakest of them! Some of them would kill all three of you right now without even breaking a sweat!" Rika gulped. "So, are they stronger than you?" Dragomon gave a small smile. "No... I am stronger than any of them. But," he added, losing his smile, "That's not saying much, because I am an exceptionally strong Digimon. You three are Champions, and they are all Ultimates, so don't underestimate them."  
  
He looked stern. "That is what I was going to ask you. These Digimon are all extremely powerful. I know for a fact that there are some Digimon even more powerful than the Devas in their ranks. So I ask... Will you all join me and my troops in our quest to destroy them?" Henry looked relieved. "You're going to help us take these guys down? Oh, thank goodness, I didn't think we could do it alone!" He smiled at Dragomon. "Excellent! With our brute strength and your cunning, we'll rule both worlds!" Henry stopped smiling.  
  
"Wait a minute... Rule both worlds? I don't think so! You're going to try and invade the Real World?" Dragomon looked at them. "So you are saying you won't aid me?" "No!" Takato yelled, "We're not going to invade our own home!" Dragomon frowned. "You realize you are making a big mistake... But very well, I shall let you go your own way, so you can oppose those who would kill us both." Takato looked at him. "Fine. But remember... If you ever attack the Real World, we are going to hunt you down and stop you... Come on Calumon." They were all leaving, but Calumon had still been sitting down.  
  
Dragomon's face suddenly paled. "Wh-what did you say that Digimon's name was?" "Calumon. Why?" Dragomon slowly looked at the little Digimon. "Well, surely he slows you down on your quest. Maybe he should stay here for a while..." Takato looked at Calumon. "Well, uh, okay, I guess." Calumon hopped up. "Wait, Takato! I wanna go with you guys! You're really fun to play with!" Dragomon looked at him. "If you stay here, you will have many friends to play with!" Calumon looked back to him. "Thanks anyway, mister, but I wanna stay with my friends!" Dragomon cursed silently to himself. "Fine. Leave." He turned away from them.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
As they put on there Aqua Lungs, they looked at the Digimon helping them. An Icedevimon, a Frogmon, and a Divermon. Takato gulped nervously. "These Digimon look tough. If they invade the Real World, will we be able to stop them?" Icedevimon gave them an odd look and said, "Remember, if you ever wish to help us, you know where to go." They nodded and left.  
  
As they swam to the surface, a small figure dropped into the water beside them, then floated back to the surface. Impmon! They swam as quick as they could to get to the surface. As they got there, they saw Impmon climbing slowly out of the water. "Urk... I will... win..." Impmon tossed a small fireball at the large horse's hoof, but he just batted it away and kicked Impmon again. He then turned to see the Tamers. "Ah, what luck that I would find you vermin here. Now you have saved me the trouble of searching for you!" He laughed and looked down at Impmon. "Now leave. I have more important matters to tend to." He kicked Impmon a few feet away.  
  
"N-no...." Impmon got up, clenching his teeth and holding back his tears. "You wanted to fight, so let's fight..." He held his hands about a foot apart, and a fiery cicle spun on the ground below it. "This oughtta stop you, Mr. Ed! Summon!" A huge fireball came out of the circle and into Impmon's hands, and he then threw it into the back of the horse's head. It did nothing, however, and the horse payed no attention to him. "What?.... How can... this be?..." Impmon limped slowly towards the horse. "What?.... Are you... too afraid to fight me? Huh?...." He tossed another fireball at the back of the horse's leg, but he just turned around and looked at him.  
  
"Have it your way." He said as he kicked Impmon back. Impmon tried to get up, but couldn't. He looked on helplessly as the horse advanced on him. "You had your chance to live, foolish one. Now you will die." He kicked Impmon lightly and he groaned. The horse laughed and put a hoof on his chest, then began to press down. Impmon cried out. He felt like his whole body was on fire. He cursed as the horse Digimon brought a foot up to stomp him.  
  
Before he could, however, Kyuubimon ran and grabbed Impmon, pulling him out of the way just before the hoof hit the sand. She set Impmon down a good distance away. "Don't try to get up." She said as she walked back to the battle. Impmon looked at her as she walked off. "I... had it under... control.... Why couldn't you... just leave me alone?....  
  
Kyuubimon looked at the large horse. "Who are you, anyway?" "I? I am Indaramon, one of the Devas, a group of the most powerful Digimon in the Digital World! And you... you are dead... Treasure Shell!" The shell off his back floated up in the air, and stopped when it was in front of him. He blew into it, and an extremely powerful sound wave hit Kyuubimon, knocking her backwards almost twenty feet. She got up slowly and held her tails up high. "Fox-Tail Inferno!" Small fireballs hit Indaramon right in the face, but he didn't even flinch. "You are just as deluded as that fool Impmon. Treasure Shell!" He blew another sound wave at Kyuubimon, and she was knocked unconcsious.  
  
"Dum-Dum Upper!" Gargomn jumped in front of Indaramon and uppercutted him while he sprayed energy pellets into his chin. Indaramon's head tilted back with the blow, but he moved it back once Gargmon landed on the ground. "Fool. Treasure Shell!" A sound wave hit Gargomon and he flew back near Kyuubimon, hurt and barely concsious. Growmon looked at Indaramon. There was no way he could beat this monster! Takato looked at him as Indaramon turned towards him. "Growmon will get himself killed trying to attack him. I have to help. But which card would do any good?" He flipped through his cards, and saw a blue card that he had never seen before. "Well, here goes nothing." He thought as he slashed it through his D-Arc. And that's what he got. Nothing. Suddenly, though, Calumon's head started to glow again, and a red light shone from it towards Growmon.  
  
Matrix Digivolution  
  
Growmon digivolve tooo....  
  
MegaloGrowmon!  
  
Growmon had grown. He was now as big as Indaramon. "Wha?....." Indaramon was very surprised. It usually took Digimon years to digivolve naturally, and this Digimon had done it right before his eyes. "Treasure Shell!" He shot a sound wave out of the horn and towards MegaloGrowmon. The attack barely moved him back however, and he ran towards Indaramon. "Double Edge!" He called out as he cut into Indaramon with an arm blade. He fell back on one hoof. "Urk... You are a worthy opponent... But you can't beat me! Treasure Shell!" He took in as much breath as he could, and blew the loudest blast yet. MegaloGrowmon was thrown back a bit, and got up slowly.  
  
"Atomic Blaster!" He yelled, and a beam of energy hit Indaramon in the face, knocking him to the ground. He got up and hit MegaloGrowmon with another sonic blast. "Right now, it's a matter of who's attacks are stronger...." Takato said as they continued to hit each other, "So I'll tip the scales. Digi-modify! Offense Plug-in, activate!" MegaloGrowmon looked at Indaramon, then yelled out, "Atomic Blaster!" A huge beam cut right through Indaramon's chest as he burst into data. MegaloGrowmon tried to absorb it, but it just flew away.  
  
"One Deva down..." sighed Henry. They all looked over to Gargomon and Kyuubimon. They were both awake and standing, but barely had enough energy to do so. Then, they looked to Impmon, who was limping away. "Wait! Impmon!" Kyuubimon went after him. "Stay with us. You'll be safer." Impmon turned to her, trying futiley to hold back his tears. "Leave me alone! I don't want to stick with you guys! Just leave me alone!" "If you don't want to stay with us, then why did you follow us to the Digital World in the first place?"  
  
"You think I wanted to come here?" He spat, "That portal sucked me in! Now I'm stuck here, so leave me alone!" "But..." Impmon turned and flung a fireball in Kyuubimon's face, but the effort of conjuring it seemed to take it's toll on him as he fell to one knee. "Now... leave... me alone..." He got up with great difficulty, and began to limp away again. Kyuubimon ran up in front of him. "Impmon, listen! You wont make it out here alone! You're too injured, why don't you just-" Impmon ignored her and walked right by. "Just leave me alone!" He sobbed, unable to control his tears anymore. He limped away as the Tamers watched sadly.  
  
The Tamers walked off in silence, and kept going the way they had been before they found the lake. Calumon looked at Takato. "Takato? Why was Impmon so sad?" "I don't know, Calumon. I think Indaramon hurt his pride." "Oh..." Calumon looked down. "I wish Impmon wasn't so sad. I don't like it when people are sad." Takato nodded and they continued walking. Soon, they saw some mountains in the distance. They ran towards them happily, because to them, anything was better than sand!  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
"Sir, Indaramon was killed... And Kunbiramon has lost to the Tamers..." Lizamon looked down. "Well, well. The Tamers have killed a Deva. They must think they're so good. Well, there are 11 more to go, and they will not fail us, you can be sure of that." Lizamon bowed. "Yes sir! The Devas will kill them yet!" He left the room. "Yes, indeed..." The leader laughed. "The Devas will kill them very soon..."  
  
The Tamers reached the mountains in minutes. They looked up at them. "Uh, these look a lot higher from right here..." Rika mumbled. Their Digimon had gone back to Rookie, so MegaloGrowmon could not carry the Tamers up the mountain. "Calumon, do you know who lives in these mountains?" "Nope!" Calumon said with a smile, "But I do know there is something dangerous in there!" "The why are you smiling?" Henry said impatiently. "Because you guys can take out whatever comes our way!" "I sure hope so..." Henry said as they started up the mountains.  
  
From a distance, Icedevimon followed the Tamers from the sky. "Those stupid Tamers." He thought, "They don't know Dragomon is smart enough to send a spy after them. And once I get Calumon..." He licked his lips, "I'll be able to digivolve!" He chuckled and dipped down a bit to see where the Tamers were.  
  
The Tamers climbed up the mountain path slowly, and looked on to see a small cottage on the side of the path. They looked at each other, and walked past it, not wanting to disturb any potentially violent Digimon. As they went by, they heard a voice. "Hey, you! Stop!" They saw a small rocky Digimon leaning out the window of the cottage. "Meteormon." Takato read. "An Ultimate Level Digimon." He didn't have time to read anymore, however, as Meteormon ran out of the cottage and went up to them.  
  
"Hi! I'm Meteormon! I don't get many visitors up here anymore..." "Why not?" Terriermon asked. "Because their is someone new around here lately..." They looked at each other. "Who is living here now?" Takato asked. "A Digimon that is extremely powerful. Works for the military group trying to conquer the world." The Tamers listened intently. "And," Henry asked, "Would you happen to know where their base is?" Meteormon looked around. "If I told you that... I could get in big trouble... But I'm not exactly in league with those guys... I mean, they messed up a lot of Digimon's lives with their violent ways... Anyway, climb the mountains, and from the top you can see a very barren land. Go to there, and you will find the base."  
  
Henry smiled. "Thank you very much, Meteormon!" Meteormon nodded. "Sure! I'm sure you'll be wanting to go there, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me where the base is, so I want to warn you. There are Digimon there with powers I can't even begin to imagine, so you best be on your guard." They thanked him and left. As they were leaving, a new voice rang out as a Digimon dropped from a rock above. "Treasure Bow!" A shining arrow struck Meteormon in the chest and he fell, wheezing.  
  
"No... Not you..." He groaned. "Meteormon, you have divulged private information to these little rebels. For that, you will die." "I... don't care... Pajiramon... You killed my entire family... for their data... You killed my friend Gotsumon... and you have ruined many other lives... I hope you get what's coming to you..." "Whatever. Thunder Stomp!" Pajiramon stomped on Meteormon's head, making him burst into data. She absorbed it all then turned to face the Tamers, who looked at her with anger.  
  
"What's the matter? Are you mad because I squashed your little friend's head? Haha... Too bad, because you are next! Treasure Bow!" A shining arrow flew at Renamon, who rolled out of the way. "Digi-Modify! Digivolution, activate!" All three Tamers cried in unison.  
  
Digivolution  
  
Terriermon digivolve tooo....  
  
Renamon digivolve tooo....  
  
Guilmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon!  
  
Kyuubimon!  
  
Growmon!  
  
"Gargo Laser!" "Fox-Tail Inferno!" "Pyro Blaster!" The three attacks struck Pajiramon, who stumbled a bit, but still whipped her bow at Kyuubimon. "Treasure Bow!" The arrow flew at Kyuubimon, grazing her side and making her fall to the ground. "No! You'll pay! Dum-Dum Upper!" Gargomon gave Pajiramon an uppercut, sending her back. She batted him away with her crossbow. "Infidel! I'll kill you! Thunder Stomp!" She landed hard on Gargomon's legs, making him cry out in pain. He tried to get up, but his legs were too hurt.  
  
"Pyro Blaster!" Pajiramon was hit in the back of the head by the fiery attack, but turned to face Growmon. "Treasure Bow" An arrow hit him right in the arm, making him bellow in pain as he pulled it out. "Give up, fools!" Pajiramon laughed, "You can't defeat me!" Just then, all three Tamers pulled out their D-Arcs.  
  
"What are you humans doing?" Pajiramon said with disgust. "Digi-Modify!" They all cried, "Offense Plug-In, activate!" The three Digimon looked at Pajiramon. "Gargo Laser!" "Dragon Wheel!" "Pyro Blaster!" The enchanced attacks struck Pajiramon and she was stunned by the sheer power. "Now! Hit her again!" Takato yelled. "Pyro Blaster!" Growmon hit her right in the face with another charged fireball, and she fell to the side.  
  
"Gargo Laser!" As she tried to get up, the pellets kept her down. "Finish the job, Kyuubimon!" Rika said. "Got it. Fox-Tail Inferno!" The fireballs hit Pajiramon and she deleted. Like Indaramon, though, her data could not be absorbed as it flew into the darkening sky. "I guess... that's two down..." Henry said. It began to rain. "Great! Now what?" "Let's go in the cottage. I'm sure Meteormon wouldn't have minded, if he were still here!" They nodded and ran into the cottage.  
  
Impmon sniffled. It had begun to rain outside. He had found a small cave, and gone inside. It was not very comfy, and it was too damp for his liking. "Those dumb Tamer Digimon." He sniffed, "Able to go to Champion, and even Ultimate without even that much fighting!" He looked outside at the rain. "If I could go to Ultimate, I would've been able to beat Indaramon, too... But I can't..." A tear ran down his face. "I'm stuck as a Rookie, here in a dark, cold cave, nursing my own wounds." He looked at his battered body. "It's not fair... I wish I could digivolve..." He hit the wall with his fist. "It's not fair! It's not fair! Why can't I digivolve?"  
  
He began to cry softly as he held his near-broken arm. "And as soon as I leave this cave, I'll probably get killed by some big Digimon... Some Digimon who was able to digivolve to Champion or higher..." He layed down on the cold ground. "But who am I kidding? I'm not strong, I'm just a Rookie with no friends. That's right, no one likes me. I'm just the annoying little Impmon. Annoying weak little Impmon..." He sobbed as he shut his eyes. "So you want to digivolve?" Said a voice softly. Impmon looked around. "Who's there? Come out!"  
  
Shellmon walked out from the rain. "You know, I know a way you can digivolve...." Impmon sat up with difficulty. "How?" "Well, you'll have to work for my boss, but he's a good 'mon to work for..." Impmon shook his head. "I don't do anyone's dirty work." Shellmon looked at Impmon's battered body. "Then you'll never digivolve, and you'll die here, weak and pitiful." Impmon wiped a tear from his cheek. "Shut up! You have no right to call me weak!" "Why?" Shellmon laughed quietly, circling him, "You called yourself weak, why can't I?" Impmon looked down and sighed. "What do I have to do?"  
  
When the Tamers woke up the next morning, the rain had let up. Takato looked out the window. "A little wet, but we can make it." They ate breakfast and left the cottage. As they climbed the mountain, Henry looked back at Meteormon's cottage. "Thank you Meteormon. For your sacrifice, and all the help you gave us. You will be missed." He dropped his head as they continued on.  
  
Impmon was taken to Dragomon's temple by Shellmon. He was standing in front of Dragomon. "Well, little Impmon, so you wish to digivolve?" Impmon looked down and said softly, "That's right, sir..." "Well, then, I want you to do something for me first..." He glared at Impmon. "What do you want me to do?" "Do you know a Digimon named Calumon? I want you to bring him here to me! And in return...." He ordered some prisoners to be brought in. Over three dozen were brought in. "You will be able to digivolve. Now here," He speared each prisoner with his trident. "Absorb the data." Impmon did so. "That was enough data to get you to digivolve to Mega!"  
  
Impmon was stunned. Mega? This was amazing! "So when can I digivolve?" "As soon as you bring Calumon to me. Now go. The data has probably healed your wounds, for the most part." Impmon left the room and used his Aqua Lung to go back to the surface.  
  
When they reached the top, the Tamers could see no barren area. Rika, however, looked through her binoculars and... "Guys! I can see it!" She pointed to what looked like an area covered by old volcanic rock. "Well, let's go!" Takato said as he pumped a fist in the air. They all hurried down the mountainside. As they ran, a Digimon watched them from behind a boulder. "Fools." He laughed. "They don't know they are about to die." He hurried towards them.  
  
"Treasure Sword!" An ox-like Digimon leapt at Guilmon from behind and slashed him in the back with a sword. Guilmon gave a cry of surprise and fell. "Haha... You now face one of the Devas! You will not survive the encounter!" He gave another swipe at Guilmon, but he rolled out of the way. "Pyro Sphere!" He yelled as a small fireball hit the Deva in the face. Takato looked at his D-Arc. It stayed blank for a second, but then it showed some information. "Vajiramon. An ox-type Digimon. His attack is Treasure Sword." Vajiramon laughed as the smoke cleared from his face. "Is that the best you can do? Fool!"  
  
He stomped Guilmon's leg into the ground, until he could not get up. Terriermon jumped at him. "Bunny Blast!" A small beam of energy hit the back of Vajiramon's head. "No! Terriermon! Wait until you digivolve!" Vajiramon laughed and rammed his elbow into Terriermon's little face. He fell back in pain. "Digi-modify!" Rika yelled. "Digivolution, activate!"  
  
Digivolution  
  
Renamon digivolve tooo....  
  
Kyuubimon!  
  
"Dragon Wheel!" A fiery dragon head hit Vajiramon in the face, and stepped back a bit. "Hmm.... A Champion... That's makes things more interesting... Treasure Sword!" He slashed his sword into Kyuubimon's stomach and she fell to the ground. "You won't win..." She said, "Fox-Tail Inferno!" Small fireballs hit Vajiramon in different places. He looked down at her. "You really do think a lot of yourself to be attacking me, don't you?" He kicked her with his thick hoof and she went sprawling. "Now to end this!" He yelled as he galloped towards her.  
  
Rika flipped through her cards. She was looking for her Hyper Speed card, when a blue card came out. Takato looked at her. "Hurry!" He said anxiously, "Slash it!" She shrugged and slashed it through her D-Arc. Suddenly, Calumon began to groan, and a light shot from his head.  
  
Matrix Digivolution  
  
Kyuubimon digivolve tooo....  
  
Taomon!  
  
Taomon smirked at Vajiramon. He looked back at her. "An interesting trick. But it won't save you. Treasure Sword!" He slashed at her, but she floated above the blade. "Talisman of Light!" She yelled, and a beam from her brush hit Vajiramon. He fell and she laughed. "Time to finish this. Thousand Spells!" Japanese papers flew at Vajiramon, hitting his body and deleting him. Taomon could not absorb his data, however, as it flew into the sky.  
  
Rika looked at Taomon in awe. "An Ultimate..." She said. "Taomon... You're an Ultimate!" Taomon nodded. "Now let's go, Rika. We need to stop whoever's sending these Devas at us. They all began to go towards the barren wasteland again. Calumon was thinking as he hopped along in the back. "Why does that weird light come out of my head every time they digivolve?"  
  
They reached the foot of the mountain by noon. As they walked along, they became very wary. It felt like someone was close by, and they had been attacked by four Devas already, and knew there were more to come. They reached a large hole in the ground. "What is it?" Henry asked nervously. "Looks... like a tunnel..." Takato said. "But what kind of Digimon could make a tunnel this big?..." A hissing rang through the mountain.  
  
"What was that, you guys?" Terriermon asked nervously. "I don't know, but you better digivolve." Henry said. "You too, Guilmon." Takato called to his partner. "Card Slash!" He and Henry cried in unison, "Digivolution, activate!"  
  
Digivolution  
  
Terriermon digivolve tooo....  
  
Guilmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon!  
  
Growmon!  
  
The two Champions joined Taomon as they stood over the Tamers and Calumon, protecting them from whatever may attack. Suddenly, the hissing started up again. "T-Taomon? You can protect us, right?" Rika asked nervously. "You can count on it, Rika." She replied. "I won't let you down." As she talked, however, she did not see the pair of red eyes gleaming in the tunnel.  
  
Suddenly, as though it were lightning, a huge snake flew out of the hole and bit into Taomon on her arm. She tried to get free, but the snake pulled her back into the hole with it. Growmon and Gargomon looked into the hole. "Taomon!" They called after her. "No! Digi-modify! Offense Plug-in, activate!" Suddenly, there was a burst of light from the hole, as they all heard "Talisman of Light!" Taomon flew out of the tunnel, holding her pained arm. She dropped to the ground as soon as she emerged. "R-rika... I think that the fang was venomous..." Rika looked at her with great sadness.  
  
"So... what will happen to you?...." "Don't... worry. It's... a slow acting venom. It is not completely fatal, I just need to rest for a while." The red eyes gleamed once more, but this time, Rika noticed it. "Get her out of the way!" She yelled as she tried to drag Taomon away from the hole. Growmon got the idea and ran up to help, when the snake shot out again and pierced his leg with a huge fang. He cried out in pain and whipped around as far as he could go. "Dragon Slash!" He yelled as he slashed the snake just above its eye.  
  
The snake released its fang and whipped its head back into the tunnel. Growmon tried to get Taomon away faster, but stumbled. "I can't walk fast enough..." He moaned as he set Taomon down a good way away and collapsed next to her. "I'll be okay... my leg hurts, though..." He said to Takato, who looked concerned.  
  
"Gargomon, it's up to you to take on this big snake. It's too fast, though... I'd slash Hyper Speed, but I don't know when it will emerge!" He looked at his cards. A blue card! Takato and Rika had said that the first time their Digimon went to Ultimate, they had slashed blue cards. "Well," He thought, "Here goes nothing..." He slashed the card through his D-Arc. For a minute, nothing happened, but then a light shone from Calumon's head, and hit Gargomon. Just then, the snake had popped out to bite Gargomon. "Please let this work..." Henry begged.  
  
Matrix Digivolution  
  
Gargomon digivolve tooo....  
  
Rapidmon!  
  
Rapidmon blurred out of the way of the snake, and reappeared above its head. "Now you see me... now you don't!" He said as he zipped under his scaly foe and uppercutted it. It recoiled and flew back into the burrow. Takato looked down at his D-Arc. It had started beeping, and he saw that the snake had appeared on its screen. "Santiramon," He read, "A snake-like Digimon. Its attack is Treasure Halberd." He looked at Henry. "I think it's a Deva, Henry...." They turned back to watch the fight. Rapidmon was staring into the hole, as if daring Santiramon to come out. He was standing right over it, directly in the line of fire!  
  
Suddenly, the Digimon struck at Rapidmon. Henry gave a gasp, and just before it bit into the green Digimon, he blurred out of the way, appeared behind his head, and used his whole body to yank the Digimon out of its burrow! "Ffffoool." It hissed as it flew by. "Treasssure Halllberd!" As its tail went by, it revealed it was weilding an ax in its tail! It sliced into Rapidmon's chest, and he was knocked away. Henry gave a strangled cry as the blade flew through Rapidmon's chest.  
  
Rapidmon seemed to stay still for a minute, and everyone thought the worst, but a second later, he flipped over, grinning, and revealed their was nothing but a large slice on his armor. He looked at the hole. "Rapid Fire!" He fired missiles at it, and the entire thing collapsed! Santiramon hit the ground with a thud, then turned over and raised up to its full height. "You inssssolent bratttt... You will not survive thissss encounter.... Treassssure Hallllberd!"  
  
Rapidmon was not worried, however, as he thought the ax could not reach him from so high in the air, but he was momentarily startled when Santiramon threw it like a boomerang at him. It cut into his side, and he groaned. It had hit him where his armor was very thin. He looked at Santiramon. "Golden Triangle!" He yelled, as a triangle of energy hit Santiramon in the face. It reeled, and Rapidmon took the opportunity. He jetted down and kicked it in the side, then leapt up right in its face. "Rapid Fire!" He fired a stream of missiled at it, until it deleted. Like every Deva killed, its data flew away, unable to be absorbed.  
  
Impmon looked down. He had reached the top of the mountain, and could see the Tamers! He was in luck! At this rate, he would be a Mega by tommorow! He bounded down the mountain as quick as he could towards the Tamers. He jumped down from each ledge to the pathway below on the winding mountain side. They had just encountered a snake-like Digimon, from the look of it! He laughed to himself happily as he bounded down faster than ever. If those Tamers were preoccupied by the attacker, he could go in and snatch Calumon, and no one would be the wiser!  
  
Rika and Takato helped their Digimon up. "Think we can continue?" Rika asked. "Hold on." Taomon said. "Most of the venom has probably been dispelled. It mainly weakens a Digimon so the snake can kill it, so it isn't very deadly. Give us some water, and we can get it out much quicker." Rika handed her a canteen, and she poured some water onto her and Growmon's wounds. She then drank a bit, and encouraged Growmon to do the same. "It will flush out the poison." She explained as he took a sip. They began to get up slowly. "Now if we can get the water flowing by moving around, we'll be fine soon." They began to walk off.  
  
Impmon ran harder than he could ever remember running in his life. "They're leaving!" He thought startledly, "Digivolving is just within my grasp! I can almost feel the power! I can't let them leave! Just need to get that Calumon!!" He bounded towards them at top speed, ranting madly to himself.  
  
As they walked, the Tamers looked at their surroundings. They had changed surprisingly fast. They were now in a nice little meadow. They looked at each other. "This place is nice." Henry said. "Maybe we should stay here for a while... You know, get enough food for us all, since their are plenty of berries and stuff around, then maybe rest the remainder of the day." The others seemed to like this idea, as they all nodded vigorously and began to gather some berries and fruit off of the small trees nearby.  
  
Impmon smiled as he reached the bottomn of the mountain. Luck was definately with him today! He was not far behind the Tamers, he just knew it! He ran at top speed in the direction they were headed. He laughed as he realized he would be digivolving before the week was out.  
  
The Tamers began to set up sleeping bags at around seven. They were going to go to sleep soon, because they were all worn out from fighting and knew that tommorow would be just as taxing, if not more. As they talked of things back home, and the Digimon, who had gone back to Rookie, ate most of the berries they had collected that day, they began to feel drowsy. Soon, they fell to sleep.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
Impmon had been running for quite a while when he had finally saw the Tamers. "They're about to go to sleep!" He laughed. "Everything's going my way!" Once they had all gone to sleep, he crept up to the small campsite and picked up Calumon, who was still sleeping when he got him. "Come on, little guy..." He whispered, "You're the key to unlocking my true power!" He crept away from the camp, with Calumon in tow.  
  
As he ran, he laughed silently to himself. That was too easy, he chuckled. He slowed to a walk and made it back to the mountain. As he began to climb, he heard a laugh from behind him. "Haha... thank you, Impmon, for bringing me that Calumon..." Icedevimon lowered himself down to the ground in the shining moonlight. "Icedevimon? Don't you work for Dragomon?" He smiled and nodded. "Then you know he wants this Digimon, so get out of my way!" He whispered urgently.  
  
"I don't think you understand..." Icedevimon said more seriously, his cold eyes boring into Impmon, "I want the Digimon, too... And I want to take it instead of Dragomon..." Impmon cocked his head. "What's the big deal about this guy, anyway?" Icedevimon gave a cold laugh. "So... Dragomon didn't tell you, either, eh? Well, I overheard him talking to Shellmon about a Digimon that has the power to digivolve Digimon! And you hold that Digimon in your hands..." Impmon looked startled. "So... Dragomon wanted this Digimon so he could Digivolve all of his troops, and take over..."  
  
Icedevimon nodded. "Now you're getting it. Only, he was most likely planning on using it himself to go to Mega. Then, he would digivolve the rest of us to Ultimate, so he could still handle uprisings and whatnot. I, however, am not content with Ultimate, and want to be a Mega. Then, I'll go back to Dragomon's temple and obliterate them all, if the military group hasn't wiped them out by then. So give me Calumon!"  
  
Impmon pulled Calumon closer to him. "No way! I'm gonna go Mega using this guy! Who's to say you won't kill me once I hand him over?" Icedevimon laughed. "You have already guessed my intentions. I have no use for you, little one. Prepare to die." He got in a fighting stance. Impmon set down Calumon, and got in a fighting stance as well. "This fight determines if I digivolves or not, so I'm not going to lose..." "Neither am I...." Icedevimon laughed.  
  
Calumon woke up groggily. "Huh?" He wondered. "Where am I?" He looked over to the two Digimon about to fight. "Impmon? And who is that?" He thought for a second. "That Icedevimon from Dragomon's temple! Now I remember! Impmon must be trying to save me from him! Gee, what a nice guy!" He got up. "Gooo, Impmon!" He shouted. Impmon and Icedevimon looked at him, then at each other. "He's awake." Icedevimon said simply. "But you don't need to worry. I have killed countless Digimon before you, absorbing more data than you can imagine. You will not fare any better than those I have killed. Prepare yourself for death!" He yelled as he flew at Impmon.  
  
Impmon dived out of the way as Icedevimon swung a fist at him. From underneath him, he yelled, "Night of Fire!", and a small fireball hit Icedevimon in the stomach. He laughed, but then began to stumble. He looked at his stomach, which was dripping water. "I didn't expect..." He muttered, "a fire attack..." He placed a hand on his stomach, and the sheer coolness of his hand froze the droplets. As he did so, Impmon was apparantly using Summon to conjure a large fireball. He threw it at Icedevimon, who caught it in the face and roared. "You won't hurt me any more!" He yelled as he kicked Impmon away. "Frost Claw!" He yelled, as a claw ripped through Impmon's side.  
  
Impmon fell to the ground. He tried to get up, but his side hurt too much. "Damn.... It can't end like this... I'm so close to digivolving... This isn't happening..." Icedevimon laughed and kicked Impmon away. "Oh, but it is... Now we finish this!" He ran at Impmon, and knocked him a good distance away with another powerful kick to the stomach. "That should've finished you... I guess you really are very intent on digivolving... Oh, well. Won't do you any good now!" He began to walk toward Impmon.  
  
Calumon hopped up and down. "Impmon! Get up! He's going to hit you again!" He yelled, but to no avail. Impmon could not get up. Calumon's ears drooped. "Impmon's gonna get hurt... I wish I could do something...." Suddenly, he felt strange. A bright light shone from his forehead. But, this time, it widened! Both Impmon and Icedevimon began to glow. The area was covered in a blinding light, and when it cleared, Impmon and Icedevimon were no more.  
  
A digimon around the size of Wargreymon stood in Impmon's place. Beelzebumon. He looked at his hands. "I... am a Mega... A MEGA!" He threw his hands up and thanked Goddramon. He looked at his new body. Two pistols were holstered on each side of his waist, he had very rugged clothes on, and his hands ended in sharp claws. But the most important thing he noticed was... "I'm TALL!" He cried out happily. "You think you're tall?" A voice behind him laughed.  
  
He turned to look. Icedevimon had turned into a monster the size of a skyscraper. VenomMyotismon. "Well, boy. It looks like you got the short end of the stick. I'm so big, you look like a bug from here! And I'll bet your attacks will be no more effective than a bug's, either." He laughed at Beelzebumon. He did not get upset over VenomMyotismon's harsh words, however, as he could almost feel raw power coarsing through every muscle, every bone, every vein in his body. "Now we end this for good." VenomMyotismon chuckled as he brought a foot down towards Beelzebumon.  
  
He stomped into the ground, but felt nothing under his foot. "What? Where did he go?" When he looked down. Beelzebumon was standing at least ten feet from his foot. "I'm... fast, too...." Beelzemon thought with amazement. "Now to try out my new power!" He yelled. "Double Impact!" He whipped his pistols out and fired almost a dozen rounds from each gun into VenomMyotismon's leg before he could get out of the way. The giant cried out in pain. "How are his bullets hurt so much? They are the size of fleas to me!" He bent down to smash Beelzebumon into the ground, but he jumped to the side, and onto his hand.  
  
He ran up the hand to VenomMyotismon's face. "Darkness Claw!" He yelled as pure dark energy eminated from his hands. He slashed into VenomMyotismon's eye, making him roar in pain. As he pulled himself upright, he laughed. "Survive this!" He batted Beelzebumon off his shoulder, toward the ground far below.  
  
"Ooh!" Calumon hopped nervously. "Impmon's losing!" He backed away, so he wouldn't get squashed or hit by the two combatants. Beelzebumon looked at the ground speeding toward him. He then looked at the giant Digimon beside him and smirked. He extended his arm way past its normal length, and yelled, "Darkness Claw!" His claw cut into VenomMyotismon's chest, and sunk in more and more until he got a good hold in the stomach. He then swung down and dropped the remaining distance, landing nimbly on his feet.  
  
VenomMyotismon gurgled as he looked at the large gash Beelzebumon had left across his chest and stomach. He held a hand to it and brought back blood. "You have made me shed blood... You have humiliated me with your silly tricks... You will die at my hands, little fool!" He shot an arm at Beelzebumon, who rolled out of the way and came up shooting at the giant Digimon's face. He backed away, holding his face and looking out of his one good eye. "Well, I guess I won't torture you too long!" Beelzebumon laughed as he ran up to VenomMyotismon's ankle. "Darkness Claw!" He yelled as he cut into it.  
  
VenomMyotismon let out another mighty roar as he fell to one knee. "Ha..." He muttered, "Your attacks may be powerful, but they are too small to be fatal to me... You have a flaw..." Beelzebumon shook his head. "No I don't." He jumped to VenomMyotismon's knee and pointed his guns at his neck. "Double Impact!" He yelled, as he shot off round after round. VenomMyotismon gurgled and started shaking, then held a hand up to his throat. Beelzebumon, however, kept firing off what seemed to be an infinite amount of bullets into VenomMyotismon's hand.  
  
He finally dropped his hand, for he didn't have the energy to hold it up, and Beelzebumon shot off a few more rounds into his throat. He hopped down his leg, using his claw to once again slow him down, leaving a large gash in VenomMyotismon's shin. He looked back to him. "Nope. No flaws." He smiled and fired one more shot into his throat, making him collapse and burst into an enormous amount of data, which Beelzebumon absorbed.  
  
Beelzebumon looked at Calumon in the moonlight. "Little Calumon... You have made me digivolve... Your Tamer friends are over there." He pointed a claw in the direction of the Tamers. "Go to them. You will be safe there. I am going to find Dragomon. Oh, and don't mention this to those Tamers, all right? Later." He turned and left. Calumon did not like being alone in the middle of the night, and took off at full speed back to the Tamers.  
  
The next morning, the Tamers all woke up early and gathered their gear to continue back to the base. As they were about to leave the meadow, Henry heard something behind them. He turned, but nothing was there. He shrugged and continued on. A few minuted later, as they were gradually entering a forest-type area, he felt a dreadful feeling that something was watching them. He turned around, but there was still no sign of anything. A minute later, he heard a soft growl behind him. He turned, and there it was. A huge tiger!  
  
The tiger growled at them as they all turned around to face it. "Well, well..." He said, circling them like prey, "The infamous Tamers..." He laughed softly and looked at the three Digimon protecting the humans. "Rookies?" He said with a laugh, "I was expecting Ultimates!" "Well, you'll find we have a few tricks up our sleeves!" Terriermon growled at him. He laughed and whipped his tail at the little Digimon, knocking him over. "Was that one of your tricks? To play dead? Haha!" He let out a laugh that sounded very much like a deep growl.  
  
Renamon scowled at him. "You talk pretty big, kitty. Let's see you back up your words. Rika?" She nodded. All three Tamers held their D-Arcs up. "Digi-modify! Digivolution, activate!"  
  
Digivolution  
  
Terriermon digivolve tooo....  
  
Renamon digivolve tooo....  
  
Guilmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon!  
  
Kyuubimon!  
  
Growmon!  
  
The three Champions looked at the tiger. "Not so cocky now, are you?" Gargomon asked, pointing a gun at him. "Well, actually, I am." The cat said lazily, and looked at him. "Treasure Rod!" His tail stiffened, and he twisted to hit Gargomon in the face with it. He went reeling and pointed a gun at the tiger. "Gargo Laser!" He cried. The pellets sprayed the jungle beast and he jumped away, into the trees. Takato's D-Arc suddenly beeped. He looked at it. "Mihiramon. A tiger Digimon. His attacks are Treasure Rod and Samurai Tiger Tail." He looked around the treetops, as did Gargomon and the others.  
  
Gargomon pointed his guns into the trees. "Here, kitty, kitty..." He mumbled. Suddenly, Mihiramon dropped from a tree and pounced on him, knocking him over as he batted at his head. "Pathetic." He spat. "You don't stand a chance." "Digi-Modify!" Henry shouted. "Hyper Speed, activate!"  
  
Gargomon zipped behind Mihiramon. "Gargo Laser!" He yelled as he pushed both guns into his back. The force of the attack send Mihiramon to the ground. He got up quckly and growled, his fur standing on end. "You pest! Now to take you out! Samurai Tiger Tail!" His tail split like a nunchuka and he swung it at Gargomon, knocking him senseless. He flew into a tree and fell to the ground. As Henry ran over to Gargomon, Growmon jumped at Mihiramon. "Pyro Blaster!" He yelled as a fireball hit the tiger in the knee. He stumbled a bit, but regained his balance. "Treaure Rod!" He yelled, and hit Growmon with his stiffened tail. Growmon, however, was not to be beaten that easily. "Dragon Slash!" He yelled, cutting into Mihiramon's flank with his claws.  
  
Mihiramon snarled, and turned, clawing at Growmon until he backed away, then he hit him with his tail once more. While he did this, Kyuubimon jumped on his back and bit him. He reared back and gave a cry of pain, trying to buck her off. "Digi-modify!" Both Takato and Rika cried, "Offense Plug-in, activate!" Both Kyuubimon and Growmon backed off. "Dragon Wheel!" "Pyro Blaster!" The two pumped up attacks hit Mihiramon, one in the stomach, one in the cheek. He fell back and deleted, his data floating high into the sky.  
  
"We did it!" Growmon laughed, "We beat another Deva!" "Jeez..." Gargomon muttered, gingerly touching a bruised cheek. "Rub it in, why don'tcha?" Henry laughed. "It's okay, pal! You took out that snake by yourself, remember?" That seemed to cheer Gargomon up as he swelled with pride. They all shared a hearty laugh and began to continue on.  
  
Little did they know, however, that a particularly odd looking boy was watching them from behind a tree. A boy who wore an odd hat, and whose eyes were cold and expressionless, even though his face was dull and not very threatening.  
  
Back at Dragomon's palace...  
  
"Sir..." Shellmon limped into Dragomon's room. "Impmon is here to see you..." "What happened to you?" Dragomon asked with concern. Shellmon looked at him pleadingly, gave a strangled cry and deleted. The data flew towards the door, as Beelzebumon, who had shot Shellmon in the back, absorbed the data. "What happened to you, Impmon?" Dragomon asked angrily, "And why did you kill Shellmon?" "Simple." He said as he holstered his pistol. "You were playing me for a sap. Gave me some data to shut me up and believe your plan, and then you were gonna kill me once you had Calumon, huh?" Dragomon looked livid. "How dare you accuse me of-"  
  
Beelzebumon held up a hand. "Quiet. I know you were planning on going to Mega with Calumon's help, and you had plenty of loyal servants to digivolve to Ultimate, so why would you keep me around, huh? You didn't know if I would stay loyal to you, am I right?" "Never in my life... Wouldn't... I didn't..." Dragomon sputtered, but he definatly avoided Beelzebumon's eyes. "Well, guilty as charged, then." He pulled out a gun and shot Dragomon.  
  
"You.... insolent..... fool..." Dragomon reached for his trident, but he was shot again twice in the head and deleted. Beelzebumon absorbed his data, and left the room. "Well, time for some fun!" He laughed as he pulled out his guns and went around shooting every Digimon that was in the entire temple.  
  
The Tamers walked on towards the base. It was very close now. The barren area was only about two hours away. Their journey was almost complete. Calumon looked around. "Should I tell them about Impmon? He told me not to, but I think they would want to know..." In the end, however, he decided to honor Impmon's wishes and keep quiet. "We're so close..." Rika said excitedly. "But..." Henry said quietly, "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" "Huh?" The other two looked at him. "What do you mean?" "I mean, who knows what kind of Digimon are at the base? What if their too powerful for our Digimon?" "Well..." Takato smiled, "We'll handle them when they come." Henry smiled too. They did not, however, see the weird kid tailing them a good distance away....  
  
They walked on for about an hour, when they heard a distant rumbling. They looked, and there was a giant boar heading right at them! "Um, what now?!" Takato asked nervously. "I say we run." Kyuubimon said, trying to keep calm. "Good plan!" The others yelled as they ran from the huge boar. It was too fast, and caught up to them within a minute. He looked down at them and snorted. "Boar Bomb!" He yelled, and a beam of energy shot from his mouth, nearly hitting Kyuubimon. "Now!" Kyuubimon yelled. "Digi- Modify!" All three Tamers yelled, "Digivolution, activate!"  
  
Matrix Digivolution  
  
Gargomon digivolve tooo....  
  
Kyuubimon digivolve tooo....  
  
Growmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Rapidmon!  
  
Taomon!  
  
MegaloGrowmon!  
  
The three ultimates looked at the giant Digimon. "Vikararamon." Takato read as his D-Arc listed the information. "A Boar Digimon. His attacks are Treasure Wheel and Boar Bomb." "We can take him! Rapid Fire!" "Talisman of Light!" "Atomic Blaster!" The three attacks hit Vikararamon and he backed up. "Treasure Wheel!" He snorted, as he began to spin around vertically. He then shot a humongous wheel of energy at the three Ultimates, knocking them away from him. "He... is very strong..." Takato said, gaping at the powerful Digimon.  
  
The three Digimon circled him. "Thousand Spells!" Taomon yelled, as Japanese paper hit him hard in the face. "Golden Triangle!" Rapidmon cried out, as an energy triangle hit him in the back.  
  
"Double Edge!" MegaloGrowmon bellowed as he slashed into Vikararamon's side. He swung around madly, trying to hurt the three attackers, and he only managed to knock away MegaloGrowmon, who had the only physical attack.  
  
"Digi-Modify!" All three Tamers cried. "Offense Plug-in, activate!" The three Digimon circled him again, switching spots. "Atomic Blaster!" The blast hit him right in the face. "Talisman of Light!" The beam cut through his side, making him stumble. "Rapid Fire!" The barrage of missiles did it. Vikararamon fell, unconscious, and deleted, his data floating away with the wind.  
  
"Now let's go!" Takato yelled enthusiastically, hyped up by their win over the strong Digimon. "Wait a minute... Where's Calumon?" He looked behind him. A few yards away, a weird looking kid was running off with Calumon. "Hey!" He yelled. "Give him back!" The kid looked back, and to Takato's surprise, turned into a Digimon! "Haha! No dice, kid!" The monkey Digimon ran off.  
  
"Get him!" Takato yelled. Megalogrowmon ran after him, gaining with his larger legs. The monkey looked back and gave a small squeak before running faster. "Majiramon!!" He called frantically. Suddenly, a huge dragon dipped out of the sky and picked the monkey off the ground. "See ya!" The monkey laughed as they left. "Follow him!" Henry called out to Rapidmon. He nodded and flew after them. He caught up to the dragon quickly. "Hand over Calumon!" He yelled. "Don't think so! Get him, Majiramon!" The monkey laughed. "Treasure Arrow!" A large arrow hit Rapidmon and went right into his shoulder, making him fall to the ground in pain. The monkey laughed as they faded from sight.  
  
As Rapidmon hit the ground, Henry ran over to him. "Rapidmon! Are you okay?" "Just... get this arrow out! It hurts!" Megalogrowmon walked over and yanked the arrow clean out immediatly. "That better?" "OW! Y-yeah... I guess..." He got up shakily. "They're long gone with Calumon by now... Sorry, Henry..." "It's okay, Rapidmon. We better just get to the base, I'm sure that's where they're taking him." Rapidmon nodded and they set off for the base once more.  
  
At the base....  
  
"Sir?" The monkey bowed. "What is it, Makuramon?" "I have a captive, sir..." He held up Calumon. The leader looked at him through the corner of his eye. "And?" "A-and this Digimon is Calumon!" The boss was not expecting that. He put his drink down and looked at Makuramon. "Calumon?.... Amazing! This is excellent. Now, our Digimon will be able to go to even higher levels, and the take over of the Real World will proceed without a problem! Now once those Tamers are dead, I will be able to send the whole armada through the portals, and the world will be mine, as it is meant to be..." He laughed softly and spoke again. "Makuramon. Put our little guest in a cage on my desk..." Makuramon bowed and went to get a cage.  
  
The Tamers finally reached the place. The barren wasteland where the base was supposedly located. "Well?" Rika asked impatiently, "Where is it?" They looked around. There was no base to be seen. As they looked, Rapidmon looked up. He had seen something up there. Something big. He took a closer look to see a huge floating island high above the clouds!  
  
He yelled down to Henry and the others. "Henry! There's an island up here!" Henry looked at Rapidmon with surprise. Surely he hadn't heard him right. "W-what was that, Rapidmon?" "A floating island!" Yep, he had heard him right. He looked up into the sky, through Rikas's binoculars. It really was a floating island! He looked upset. "That must be the base.... but how do we get up there?" "You will have to get a ride to make it up there." A voice said from above.  
  
A Parrotmon flew down, accompanied by a Saberdramon on each side. "We have been ordered to fly you up to the base. We don't understand it, but we will follow orders, so come on." He held a talon out to Taomon, as if to offer to carry her. "No thanks." She said coldly as he began to hover higher. "I can fly. And we will fly our own way up there. Once the Digimon over there devolves," She jerked a thumb at MegaloGrowmon, "We'll be able to carry the rest of them up there." Parrotmon laughed.  
  
"Actually, you have to have an invitation. And if you try to fly up yourself, you will find yourself being shot at by us and many other aerial guards. So come with us now or stay down here." Taomon looked at him angrily. "What makes you think you're stronger than us?" Parrotmon laughed again. "Who said anything about strength? You would have your hands full carrying them, and wouldn't be able to fight back. You'd die pretty fast..." "Well, what if we kill you now?" Taomon smirked. "Then my boss would not let you up, and if you tried, he may even send Majiramon after you!" He chortled.  
  
Taomon looked mad. "Fine. Take us up." The two Saberdramon, Taomon and Rapidmon all had to help to get MegaloGrowmon up, and the three Tamers climbed onto Parrotmon's back. They all flew up to the island. When they got there, there was about two miles of grassy plains on the island, with an enormous facility in the middle. The Tamers all looked at it. "Well, off you go." The Parrotmon let the Tamers off onto the grass and the four Digimon lightly dropped MegaloGrowmon onto the grass as well.  
  
"In case you die, I'll say bye now!" The Parrotmon laughed and the three Digimon swooped down below the island. The Tamers and their Digimon all began to walk toward the base. A speaker on top of a tall pole began to make noise. "Attention, Tamers." A calm voice called from it, "I have brought you here only because I figured it would not be fair to leave you stranded after you've gone so far looking for me. I hope you can make it to me, because I look forward to seeing you in person." Rika glared at the speaker.  
  
"Listen here, you little-" "Temper, temper..." The voice in the speaker chuckled. "I can see you, you know. I have security cameras all over the island. You look pretty mad, Rika. Better control your temper, or you may make some of my powerful Digimon mad with that smart tongue of yours..." Rika just narrowed her eyes and looked around. "You can't see the cameras!" The voice laughed. "But they are indeed hidden around the island, you can count on that." The Tamers ignored his voice and walked on.  
  
As they walked, the voice rang out behind them. "Hey, Tamers! I was still talking. I need to teach you some respect. Meet one of my friends, Antiramon!" A large rabbit Digimon walked towards them slowly from the direction of the base. "He is of the Ultimate level, just like your Digimon, and he is quite the fighter, which is why he is the guardian of this base!" Antiramon looked down at the Tamers when he stopped in front of them. He seemed to be doing some thinking. Without warning, he struck!  
  
"Mantra Chant!" Seven shining orbs hit MegaloGrowmon. Antiramon whipped around and kicked Taomon in the side, knocking her away as she careened off the grass. He turned and grabbed Rapidmon by the neck and hit him in the stomach with the other hand. He tossed him into MegaloGrowmon and jumped in the air. "Mantra Chant!" He yelled as he spun his hands, creating seven more orbs. They flew into Rapidmon and MegaloGrowmon, knocking them both face-first into the ground.  
  
Taomon had snuck up behind Antiramon to attack. "Talisman of Light!" A beam of light hit him in the back of the leg and he went down hard. Rapidmon took this chance and leaped off MegaloGrowmon. "Rapid Fire!" He shouted as a barrage of missiles hit Antiramon in the chest. As he did this, MegaloGrowmon got up, too. "Double Edge!" He ran towards Antiramon and slashed him in the face before he could get up.  
  
Antiramon layed there for a moment. "Finish him!" Rika yelled. They all hit him again. He rolled over on his back. "So this is your guardian?" Laughed Rapidmon. "I've seen turnips stronger than that guy!" "Meditation... Cure..." He layed perfectly still, and soon, his wounds began to dissapear and the slash MegaloGrowmon made on his face began to close up. He stood up again.  
  
"Uh, never mind!" Rapidmon said as he backed up. "Hey, I was only kidding, you know. I really think you're- oof!" He was hit in the stomach by a large paw. Antiramon withdrew his hand and jumped over to MegaloGrowmon. "Mantra Chant!" He yelled, and seven orbs once again smashed into the huge Digimon. "Atomic.... Blaster!" He yelled as he went down. The attack knocked Antiramon back a few yards, but he healed himself once again.  
  
Henry looked over to the fight. "That's it!" He yelled. He motioned for Rapidmon to come over to him. "Get him to go towards the edge!" He whispered sharply in his Digimon's ear. "Got it!" He nodded and flew over to the fight once more. "Hey, ugly! Golden Triangle!" A triangle of energy hit Antiramon in the face and he ran towards Rapidmon. Rapidmon, however, kept backing up until he was right at the edge of the island. Taomon, getting the idea, floated up behind Antiramon. "Thousand Spells!" He exclaimed as the papers hit Antiramon, knocking him ever closer to the side of the cliff.  
  
MegaloGrowmon got up and looked over to the combatents a good distance away. "Why are they over their?" He wondered. He then looked at the cliff side. "Oh! They're trying to push him off!" He lumbered over to the others, and waited for an opportune moment to attack. As Antiramon swung a fist at Rapidmon, he saw his chance. "Atomic Blaster!" He yelled, and the blast hit the startled rabbit right in the ribs, and he flew over the edge towards the ground hundreds of feet below.  
  
They all looked over the edge. "Well... That takes care of him..." Rapidmon said, and they went in the direction of the base once more. The loudspeaker crackled. "You Tamers killed Antiramon, eh? Well, come in and we'll see just how cocky you are..." It shut off with a snap.  
  
They walked for a good bit before arriving at the gate. They entered the facility. As they walked on inside of it, they noticed the immense amount of weaponry and electronics on the walls and inside locked cases. They looked around for any sign of Calumon or the mysterious leader, or for any Digimon at all. Surprisingly, the base seemed very quiet and empty. As they opened a large, old- fashioned door, they walked into a large, bare room.  
  
"Haha..." The leader said softly as he watched the Tamers on a screen. "The fools... Chatsuramon! Would you please inform the others we have company?" A large dog nodded. "Yes, sire." He bounded out the door. "Those silly Tamers... Coming to my lair to fight... They will find I have a few tricks up my sleeve..." He stood up and raised his hands high. "Evolution LOCK!!!!" He yelled out, and a bright light engulfed the room containing the Tamers.  
  
When the light died down, the three Tamer Digimon were all Champions again! "What happened?" Takato asked as he rubbed his eyes. "That light... It forced us to dedigivolve..." Gargomon mumbled. They looked around the room. It was completely empty, except for a few small poles sticking up from the ground on the far side. As they looked around, it suddenly got very dim in the room. As they looked up, they noticed that the light from the ceiling seemed to be flowing towards the poles. The light began to go in the poles, as if they were absorbing them.  
  
"Weird..." Henry mumbled as the lights got even dimmer. The lights turned off completely for a second, and when they came back on, a rooster was perched on top of one of the poles. It stared at the Tamers. They stared back for the longest time, until finally... "Positron Pulse!" A stream of lightning shot at Gargomon, who had barely enough time to dodge. "You big turkey! You're going down! Gargo Laser!" The rooster merely hopped to another pole and clucked. It began to get bigger as the energy from the pole flowed into it. "Wha..." Gargomon was surprised to see this. "Uh... Gargo Laser!" The pellets hit the pumped up rooster, but he continued to draw energy from the pole.  
  
As Chatsuramon ran, the lights began to dim around him. "Great..." He mumbled, "Shinduramon's fighting..." He continued to bound towards the troops he was told to inform.  
  
Growmon ran at Shinduramon. "Pyro Blaster!" A fireball shot at Shinduramon, and it merely fizzled on his armor. "Positron Pulse!" He cawed as a bolt struck Growmon. "Dragon Wheel!" The fire hit Shinduramon, but fizzled like Growmon's attack did. "Great." Rika muttered. "Fire attacks don't work. Terrific." She suddenl got an idea, however. "Digi-Modify!" She yelled, "Modokibetamon, activate!" Kyuubimon turned to face Shinduramon. "Aqua Tower!" As a bolt flew towards her, she shot a stream of water at him, and it hit him.  
  
Shinduramon started to squawk loudly. The electricity in his body had been set off by the water! He began to fall off the pole, and deleted on impact when he hit the floor. His data flew up to the ceiling and gradually went out the door.  
  
The Tamers looked at the wall behind the poles. A door had seemingly come out of nowhere! And the energy from the poles streamed back into the lights, and the room became light once again. They walked to the door and went through.  
  
As they walked along the corridor, they began to get a feeling of nervousness. They knew they were close, but they didn't know what they were facing... The Tamers finally reached two doorways. "Well?" Rika asked aloud to the others. "Which way?" "Go right." The voice of the leader echoed through the hallway. "The left will just lead you to the training area." They looked at each other and decided to go right.  
  
They walked for what seemed like forever. They turned through many rooms filled with impressive gadgets and monitors. Finally, they reached a large red door at the end of a long cooridor. Takato gulped and opened it. They walked in. "Greetings." The leader greeted them from behind his chair. "I was expecting you." He took a sip of his drink.  
  
The Tamers could not see him, only the back of his chair. "Who are you?" Rika demanded, "And why are you after us?" "Haha..." The leader laughed softly. "I'm not after you for anything personal, I'm after you because I want to rule the Real World. You are just in the way, killing my troops constantly. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be supreme ruler of both worlds by now. But, once you entered the Digital World, you inadvertantly shut the portal behind you with the power of the D-Arcs..." "Why don't you turn and face us, if you're so powerful?" Takato growled. "Fine." He chuckled as he turned his chair to face them.  
  
He was revealed. Not as a Digimon, but as a human only a few years older than the Tamers themselves. "I can tell," He said by the look of their faces, "That you were not expecting this..." He leaned back in his chair. "Yes, I am human.... A human with ambition. One who has technology and allies no other has... And it will be me that rules both worlds..." He gave a small laugh and took another sip of his drink.  
  
Rika was enraged that a mere human did all this to them. Put them through all this. Killed Meteormon. Kidnapped Calumon. She charged at him. He laughed again softly and pressed a button under the desk. Two guns came out of the desk in the front corners. They turned to face Rika. "Now, now... Didn't I warn you about that temper of yours?" He laughed. Rika began to calm down. "You're alone in a room with three Champions and us. You aren't going to live through this encounter."  
  
"I beg to differ. One of my loyal allies waits right outside the door, having just completed a task. Chatsuramon!" The large dog walked into the room. "Yes, Lord Danre?" He looked at the dog. "These upstarts are threatening me. I just think you should stay in here to keep the Digimon occupied. Chatsuramon nodded and trotted to Danre's side. "You were saying?" He smiled at Rika.  
  
She was looking very angry. "And how did you keep up with us if you were in here the whole time?" He smirked. "Technology is a great thing." He turned again and pressed a remote, revealing that the entire wall behind him was actually monitors showing what the security cameras were seeing. "And," Henry added, "Why did you kidnap Calumon?" They looked at Calumon, who was sitting in a cage on Danre's desk. Danre looked at him with amusement. "You haven't figured it out yet? He is the key to digivolution!" They all looked appalled. "What? Why didn't he tell us?" "I believe he didn't know himself..."  
  
Chapter 5  
  
Deep in the rocky ground below the base, in a small cavern, BomberNanimon grumbled to himself, setting bombs about two feet apart from one another across the whole cavern. "No-good lousy... I'll show them...." He placed another bomb. "So the Tamers are here, huh, Chatsuramon? Well, then, I'll blow them up, and take you along with them! I'll be the only survivor, and I'll never have to hear that little jerk Danre call me an incompetant fool again!" He set the final bomb and put a timer on it. "Five minutes..." He laughed as he took off towards the exit.  
  
"Well, now you know." Danre said. "You know it all. All I need to do now is kill the three of you, and your D-Arcs will deactivate, and the portal will reopen!" He laughed and Chatsuramon suddenly looked around. "Lord Danre. I have a bad feeling about something...." Danre looked over to him. "Well? What is it?" "I don't know... I'm going to check on the troops." Danre gave a smile. "All right, then. I'll call in someone even stronger than you to guard me..." Chatsuramon smirked and left.  
  
"Tamers... prepare yourselves for something like you've never seen. A power so big, you will stand no chance if you choose to attack us..." He pressed a button on his desk. He laughed to himself. Suddenly, the door began to open and a Digimon the size of Wargreymon stepped in the room. He brandished a sword, and wore heavy, light blue armor. "Meet ImperialDragoonmon." Danre said with relish.  
  
He looked at the Tamers as he walked by, not folding in his large wings to keep them from hitting them. He stopped to stand beside Danre. "Now, you see before you the key to my power. ImperialDragoonmon is the strongest Digimon alive. The Devas together could not beat him. Of course, you have killed most of the Devas, but unfortunatly, you stand not even the slightest chance now. Allow me to destroy your D-Arcs and let ImperialDragoonmon take your Digimons' data and you can go free."  
  
The Tamers looked at him in shock. "No way!" Takato shouted. "We won't let you kill our Digimon!" "Suit yourself." He laughed. "ImperialDragoonmon?" The Digimon smirked and pulled out his sword. "Sir!!!" The door burst open and Chatsuramon stood panting in the doorway. "BomberNanimon has set bombs to go off throughout the island! We must evacuate!" Danre looked at him in alarm. "No! That fool!" He stood up quickly and looked at ImperialDragoonmon. "We must kill them quickly." He said angrily. "And then we must get out of here! Chatsuramon, get the strongest Digimon out now!" He nodded and ran off.  
  
The Tamers looked at each other, then nabbed Calumon's cage. They then turned and ran. "No! Stop them!" Danre yelled after them. Takato looked back to see ImperialDragoonmon jetting after them at startling speed. He could not fly after them at full speed, however, in the cramped hallway. "Go!" Takato urged as they ran through the door to Shinduramon's room and shut it behind them.  
  
ImperialDragoonmon burst the door right off the wall and was only momentarily slowed by the poles. "Get them! Get them!" Danre cried as he struggled to keep up with the Digimon chasing the Tamers. They winded through the halls and rooms until they saw the gate. "We're not going to make it!" Henry cried, "He's going to catch us!" Just then, an explosion rang out and a piece of the ceiling fell at Danre. ImperialDragoonmon abandoned his hunt and stood over Danre, shielding him. The Tamers took this opportunity to run out the gate.  
  
As they ran, the base began to go up in flames. They could see Majiramon flying down towards the ground with three Digimon on his back. The grass beneath them began to catch fire as they ran. They reached the edge of the island, and looked over the side. They turned, and the fire was slowly catching up to them. "All we can do now... Is jump!" Takato yelled. "But first... Digi-Modify! White Wings, activate!" The other two did the same and the Digimon flew their Tamers toward the ground below.  
  
"Damn them!!!!" Danre yelled in a rage as he flew toward the ground on ImperialDragoonmon's back . "My island! Look what they did to the base!!!!" He screamed out as he pulled at his hair. "NO! I'll kill them! I'll torture them until they beg for death, better yet!!!" ImperialDragoonmon looked over to see Majiramon flying a couple hundred yards away. He could barely see three Digimon holding on to his back. Kunbiramon, Chatsuramon, and Makuramon.  
  
The Tamers finally landed on the ground below the wrecked island. They looked up at the bright fires engulfing it and wondered if Danre had made it out. "Double Impact!" They saw Beelzebumon shooting his gun off repeatedly as Lizamons jumped at him, biting and clawing. "Get off, you pests! Darkness Claw!" He slashed through a couple of them, and paused momentarily to absorb the data from those he had killed. He resumed shooting, however, when the Digimon began to leap on him once again. "Liza Blast!" voices rang out from all over. Beelzebumon found himself being bombarded by energy blasts within seconds.  
  
As the smoke cleared, Beelzebumon showed little signs of damage and whipped his guns around. "Double Impact!" He bellowed as he blasted Lizamon after Lizamon. They began to back off as they saw dozens of their comrades destroyed by the fearsome Mega. He absorbed the data of the fallen Digimon and looked at the Tamers.  
  
"You!" He looked at them all. "What are you Tamers doing here?" "Uh, do we know you?" Takato asked nervously. "Never mind that! I said, what are you doing here?!" They looked at each other. "We... just destroyed the base up there..." Beelzebumon looked up. "Hmph. So you have. Too bad. You beat me to it." Kyuubimon looked at him thoughtfully. She then looked very startled. "Impmon?!" She asked increduously. "Not Impmon anymore, toots. It's Beelzebumon now." He looked at her and gave a lopsided grin. "TAMERS!" Danre's voice rang out. "Your time is up!"  
  
Chapter 6  
  
ImperialDragoonmon and Majiramon dipped out from above the clouds and landed. Danre jumped off of the large Digimon quickly. "You hear me? You destroyed my base!! Unfortunately for you, most of my army was down here already!" He gave a quick laugh, but then looked around him. "Wait.. where are all the Lizamon?" Beelzebumon smiled. "Oh, those were your Digimon? Sorry, I kinda blasted most of them." Danre looked livid. "First the base and now this! You will die, fool, and the only thing left of you will be your data, inside ImperialDragoonmon's body!! Hahahaha!" He began to laugh insanely again. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" Beelzebumon laughed as he pulled out his pistols.  
  
"Double Impact!" He yelled as he shot a few rounds at ImperialDragoonmon. He grunted and flew skyward. He then dived at Beelzebumon. "Double Impact!" He yelled again, firing his guns repeatedly at the menacing Digimon. ImperialDragoonmon, however, kept going, and pulled his sword out. "Dragoon Blade!" He yelled, and Beelzebumon had just enough time to throw a hand up, getting sliced in the process.  
  
He held his wounded arm and then pulled out a gun, shooting at ImperialDragoonmon's back. He turned and held his hand towards Beelzebumon, palm straight. "Hyper Beam!" He yelled, and a huge energy beam flew at Beelzebumon, knocking him backwards. "Eat this! Double Impact!"  
  
Beelzebumon shot off even more bullets at ImperialDragoonmon. He didn't even flich this time as they collided with him. "What?.... My bullets don't affect him.... Rrrrr, Darkness Claw!" He jumped at ImperialDragoonmon, slashing him in the face. He put a hand to his cheek, to hold the slice. He then took it off to reveal nothing more than a slash. It hadn't even made him bleed.  
  
"This... can't be happening!" Beelzebumon thought, beginning to panic. "I'm a  
  
Mega! The strongest Mega alive! No!" He began to concentrate all his energy, every fiber of his being on putting all his energy into his next attack. "If you really are that strong, then survive this!" He yelled out. ImperialDragoonmon smirked and stood his ground. Beelzebumon poured all the energy he could spare into his claws. The pure energy radiated from them. He began to shake from the enormous amount of energy gathered in his claws. "DARKNESS CLAW!!!" He yelled, as he slashed through ImperialDragoonmon, who stopped smirking.  
  
Beelzebumon fell to one knee. "Haha.... You weren't... the strongest after all..." He looked at ImperialDragoonmon, who was looking at the huge gash on his stomach. It wasn't bleeding, however. Beelzebumon noticed this and frowned. "What's... going on? Why aren't... you dying? Or even bleeding... for that matter?...." ImperialDragoonmon looked at him. "You are more powerful than I thought. You nearly cut through my armor with that last one!" He said mockingly.  
  
Danre began to laugh. "Yes! Get him! He can't even cut through your armor with his most powerful attack!" "Shut up!" Kyuubimon had finally had enough of Danre. She dived at him to attack him, but she found herself sprawling on the ground a second later. Majiramon had batted her away. "Hahaha! You thought you would attack me? Foolish Digimon..." Danre chortled at Kyuubimon as she tried to attack again, but this time, Chatsuramon got in her way andbit her hard.  
  
"Fool. You can't hurt me. I'm surrounded by Digimon you only wish you were as powerful as. These three alone can take you Tamers, while that blasted Digimon over there is killed by ImperialDragoonmon." Growmon and Gargomon both turned to help Kyuubimon. The Lizamon, too, began to circle the Tamers and their master, watching as a fight started. Majiramon looked down at the three Champions and gave a small derisive laugh. "Weaklings. Treasure Arrow!"  
  
An arrow shot from Majiramon, and nearly hit Gargomon. He dived out of the way, and shot at the giant dragon. He shrugged the attack off and kicked Gargomon away. "Pyro Blaster!" Growmon shot at him, too, but got the same results. "Rika..." Takato asked nervously. She looked at him. "Yeah?" "You're a card expert, I just wanted to know. I've got a card I've never slashed before, and I don't know what it will do to Growmon... you think this is a good time to slash it?" They looked over to see their Digimon being kicked around. "Yep." "All right..." He sighed. "Here goes..."  
  
"Digi-modify! King device, activate!" Growmon stopped moving for a second. Then, he began to grow. He grew until he was the size of Majiramon. "What now?" He asked the dragon, who was startled by this sudden, tremendous growth. "Pyro Blaster!" He shot a blast that hit Majiramon square in the jaw and he stumbled back a bit. "Treasure Arrow!" He yelled, but the arrow that hit Growmon was too small to seriously hurt him. "Dragon Slash!" He yelled as he slashed his hand through Majiramon's head, and he heard the skull break. Majiramon exploded into data, just as Growmon started to shrink.  
  
"Not... possible..." Beelzebumon said as he backed away. "Oh, but it is. Dragoon Blade!" He sliced through Beelzebumon's chest, and he fell back. "I need... data... to keep alive..." He groaned. He looked over to see a few cackling Lizamon, laughing at him. He shot his hand out to way past its normal length, and slashed through the Lizamon, making them explode into data. He absorbed the data, and got up slowly. He tried to walk towards ImperialDragoonmon, but suddenly stopped involuntarily. "I feel.... weird....." He managed to mumble before he closed his eyes and a bright light filled the area.  
  
When the light died out, Beelzebumon was hovering in the air, held up by two large black wings! His pistols had turned into one large gun as well. ImperialDragoonmon cocked his head. "What are you?" He asked with a hint of curiosity. "I'm.... Beelzebumon Blast Mode now... I mode changed... I can feel the power surging through me... Now... the tables have turned..." ImperialDragoonmon shrugged. "Whatever you say. If you've gotten more powerful, I'd like to see you prove it. I'll let you hit me..." He folded his arms across his chest and waited for Beelzebumon to attack.  
  
Beelzebumon was not angered by the cocky Digimon, however, as he pointed his gun at him. He knew he had gotten much stronger, and the fool was doing nothing but allowing him to hit him! Beelzebumon began to charge his gun up. It began to emit a whirr as energy filled it. "You really want me to hit you with this?" He said. ImperialDragoonmon smiled and nodded. "Okay... You asked for it..." The gun began to shake slightly as it got filled even more with energy.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?" Danre yelled to ImperialDragoonmon. "Take him down now, before he can shoot you!" He stomped his foot on the ground. "He's stronger now! Don't underestimate-" He was cut off as he felt a blow to the head from behind. Takato had slammed a fist into his head. The three Devas left jumped in to help their master, but he held up a hand. "No. I don't need help with this fool." He grinned and looked at Takato. "How heroic. Attacking from behind.... Well, seeing as that's the only way you could be sure of harming me, I don't blame you." He laughed and Takato felt a rage boiling deep inside of him. He leapt at the older boy.  
  
"Too slow!" Danre laughed as he ducked his head under Takato's fist. Takato gave a cry of hatred and swung at him again. He ducked underneath again and shook his head. "Too slow, again!" Takato swung again, and Danre ducked again, and caught his arm by the wrist from below. "For Antiramon." He punched him in the stomach and he reeled. "For Shinduramon." He punched him in the jaw. "For the rest of the Devas." He punched him in the side. "And for the base!!!" He punched him hard in the eye.  
  
He laughed and hit Takato again in the stomach. Growmon ran towards them. "No you don't!" Chatsuramon tackled Growmon and jumped back a bit. "Don't interfere. Lord Danre's teaching that fool what it means to mess with him." Growmon looked on helplessly as Danre knocked Takato to the ground. "Haha.... Pitiful... Guess you are only a worthy adversary when your Digimon is there to protect you." "Leave him alone!" Henry dived from behind him and tackled him.  
  
"Master!" Chatsuramon began as he started towards Danre. Danre growled at him. "I don't need help. Do nothing unless a Digimon attacks!" He flipped Henry off his back and backhanded him. "Fool! Do you have a death wish?!" He pushed Henry's head into his knee. Just then, Takato grabbed him from behind and Henry hit him in the face. Danre spit blood and glared at Henry. "You will pay, Tamer." With minimum effort, he broke free of Takato's hold and turned, kicking him in the side.  
  
Henry punched at him, but he moved to the side and uppercutted the smaller boy. He began to laugh, but stopped quickly as a pellet of energy narrowly missed his head. He turned to see Gargomon, guns smoking, looking at him. Chatsuramon and Kunbiramon both went towards Gargomon, but he sneered and said, "One more step and I shoot." They stopped. "Good. Now, Danre? Call off your Digimon and leave. Abandon your plans of conquest." Danre smirked. "You know..." He pulled out a small pistol and cocked it at Henry's head. "I'm not completely helpless." They all stood still.  
  
Beelzebumon looked down. His gun were shaking rapidly and he knew in an instant his gun had filled with energy when it began to glow, as if it would explode. "Die! Death Slinger!" A blast of energy shot out of his gun. It was bigger than ImperialDragoonmon himself. His eyes widened as the beam headed for him. "No!" He moved his arms to cross them in front of him, and the beam engulfed him.  
  
Danre, his troops and the Tamers all looked at the startling blast of energy that overtook ImperialDragoonmon. Danre gave a startled cry. "ImperialDragoonmon!!!" Henry took this chance to duck under the gun and knock it out of his hands. "Now, Gargomon!" He yelled, but Danre dived out of the way of the attack and straight for the gun. As he dived, however, Takato grabbed his leg and he fell short of the gun. Gargomon aimed his gun again, but this time hit the gun, destroying it. "No! I'll kill you both with my bare hands!" Danre was enraged. He dived at Takato, and began to punch him.  
  
When the gigantic blast stopped, and the rest of the Lizamon had been blown away by it. there was too much smoke to even see ImperialDragoonmon. "He shouldn't have tested my limits." Beelzebumon laughed. He blew a stream of smoke from the tip of his gun. The smoke began to clear, and Beelzebumon's eyes widened. ImperialDragoonmon was standing in the same spot, alive! "Haha..." He managed to choked out. "You... didn't..... kill me......"  
  
Beelzebumon was shocked. That blast was the most powerful attack he had! He couldn't still be alive! "No...." He backed away, as ImperialDragoonmon advanced on him. "You... are strong... but I am stronger..." He laughed. His armor was cracked all over, and he was holding a bloody arm. He then held his hand up to face Beelzebumon. "Hyper Beam!" A blast shot out and hit him. He fell to the ground, and ImperialDragoonmon flew at him.  
  
"Dragoon Blade!" He yelled. The sword flew at Beelzebumon. He cought it in his hands, however. "Can't... hold it...." He groaned as the sword slowly came nearer. He looked over to see the Tamers and the others. "I need... just a little more power!" He pulled one hand off and shot it at them.  
  
Kumbiramon was about to strike at Gargomon, while the other two Digimon were being held off by Chatsuramon. "Haha.. Little Tamer Digimon is about to- Ack!" A hand struck him from behind, slicing through his side, and he burst into data.  
  
Beelzebumon laughed. He could absorb the data and gain that last bit of power! One problem, however. He couldn't absorb the data! He couldn't believe it! "Haha..." ImperialDragoonmon laughed. "Found out a little secret about our friends the Devas, have you? Not just anyone can absorb their data..." With those words, he broke his sword free of Beelzebumon's grasp and sliced through his chest.  
  
Chatsuramon looked astonished as Kunbiramon burst into data. "That means.... all but two of the mighty Devas have been killed...." He looked over to Makuramon. "We are all that remains of the great Devas. It is up to us to protect Lord Danre." Makuramon looked at the other combatents and nodded, placing himself by Chatsuramon to protect their leader.  
  
Danre pushed Henry to the ground as he tried to pull him off of Takato. "Back off. I'll deal with you next." He was about to hit Takato once more, when a powerful kick was landed to his side. He groaned and fell to the ground. Rika stood over him. "Aw... The almighty Danre been taken out by a girl?" Danre glared at her menacingly. He suddenly shot his foot out, tripping her. As she fell, he brought his other foot up into her back, and she gave out a yelp of pain. He got up and looked at her, on the ground holding her side.  
  
"No, I don't think so." He laughed as he kicked her. "This is getting us nowhere!" Henry exclaimed to Takato. "We can't stop him, he's too strong! We need help!" Takato nodded and they both held up their D-Arcs. "Digi- Modify! Digivolution, activate!"  
  
Digivolution  
  
Growmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon digivolve tooo....  
  
MegaloGrowmon!  
  
Rapidmon!  
  
The two Ultimates looked at the two Devas. "You'll have to kill us to get to Lord Danre!" Chatsuramon growled at them. Makuramon gulped. He didn't like these odds! He hoped that ImperialDragoonmon would help out soon...  
  
Beelzebumon gasped as he felt the sword slice through him. His head fell to the ground and he pointed his gun at ImperialDragoonmon's foot in desperation. "Death Slinger!" He mumbled, and a stream of energy hit the Digimon's ankle. He jumped, however, and came back down hard on Beelzebumon's stomach. He jumped off and looked at his beaten opponent. "You realize," He said, "That you have lost. No more data around to help you. You are officially the loser." He smirked again and kicked him. "You fought well, but now it ends." Beelzebumon bit his lip to stop from crying out.  
  
He couldn't lose! He was a Mega! A mode-changed Mega! It wasn't fair! He had spent his whole life trying to get stronger, and for what? So he could die helpless at the hands of this monster! A true killing machine. This one was stronger than him, even now..." He admitted to himself as ImperialDragoonmon's sword pierced his chest armor.  
  
As Beelzebumon burst into data, Kyuubimon screamed out. "No!" She cried, "Impmon! Fox-Tail Inferno!" She cried, as small fireballs shot at ImperialDragoonmon, fizzling on impact. He ignored her completely as he absorbed the data floating around. "Monster!" Kyuubimon cried and she attacked again, hitting him in the head this time, but getting the same results.  
  
Chatsuramon jumped at MegaloGrowmon, biting into his leg. He bellowed and tried to swing him off. "Double Edge!" He yelled as he cut into the Deva. "Rapid Fire!" Rapidmon yelled as missiles hit Chatsuramon in the side. He fell off of MegaloGrowmon, and Makuramon gave a small squeak. This wasn't good! These Digimon would kill Chatsuramon, then come after him! He waited for a chance to strike, and took it once Rapidmon flew in to attack Chatsuramon once again.  
  
"Treasure Ball!" He shot a ball of energy at Rapidmon's back, and he turned just in time to see it coming at him. "No!" He cried as the ball touched him. He was surprised to find that the ball didn't even hurt, however. But when he opened his eyes, he was trapped inside it! Makuramon laughed. "Now to show you something really impressive!" Rapidmon's form began to waver, and he burst into data.  
  
"No!!!!" Henry screamed out. Rapidmon was dead! He couldn't believe it! But, to his great relief, Terriermon dropped out of the ball full of data. He hit the ground and looked up. "Huh?" He asked, confused. "Is that my data?" Makuramon laughed again. "Correct! Well, it's Rapidmon's data, anyway." The ball shot at him, and he absorbed all the data inside it.  
  
MegaloGrowmon looked at the two Ultimates circling him. If he was caught in that ball, they would all be doomed! He turned to face Makuramon. "Atomic Blaster!" A blast of energy caught Makuramon in the ribs and he went down hard.  
  
Takato looked at the battle. MegaloGrowmon was holding out, but he couldn't for much longer, especially once ImperialDragoonmon got over to him! "MegaloGrowmon!!!" He called out. "Huh?" Calumon felt very weird suddenly, and a huge bright light shot into MegaloGrowmon!  
  
Mega Digivolution  
  
MegaloGrowmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Dukemon!  
  
The Royal Knight Digimon stood looking down at the two last Devas. "Final Elysian!" He yelled, as an energy blast hit Chatsuramon in the face, and he burst into data. Makuramon looked at the remnants of his fallen comrade, then at Dukemon, and ran. As he ran, Dukemon yelled out again, and Makuramon was struck in the back by a beam of energy. He burst into data as he gave one last strangled cry.  
  
Danre looked over to the newly evolved Dukemon. "Fool! You've killed the Devas! You will pay!" Dukemon turned to face him. "You are the one that shall pay, evil one." He ran at Danre. "No!" He yelled, and turned to run. As he turned, Dukemon slashed him with his saber. It cut right through him, and he fell to the ground, dead.  
  
The Tamers all looked at Danre. "You... killed him..." Takato mumbled to Dukemon.  
  
dukemon looked back at him solemnly. "I'm sorry, but it had to be done..." He held his head down. They nodded. "Yeah... You had no other choice..."  
  
ImperialDragoonmon glanced over to the others, and his heart nearly stopped. Danre was dead! "Noooo!!!!!!!" He batted Kyuubimon away and flew towards Dukemon and the others. He stopped over Danre's lifeless body. "No! No! This can't be! You can't die! You are the great Danre!" He held the dead leader in his arms. "You...." He set Danre down. "You killed him..." He walked slowly towards Dukemon. "I'm sorry, but he was a threat to-" ImperialDragoonmon cut him off with a punch to the face that sent him careening backwards.  
  
"Argh!!! Dragoon Blade!" He slashed at Dukemon as he got up. He fell, the blow barely cutting through his armor. "Hyper Beam!" ImperialDragoonmon did not have time to concentrate, and as a result, a small beam hit Dukemon in the face, doing nothing but keeping him down.  
  
Kyuubimon and Terriermon walked over the their Tamers. "Dukemon will die if he keep fighting alone!" Terriermon yelled anxiously. "We've got to do something!" Kyuubimon looked to Rika. "Rika... I can't do much to that beast, but I could never live with myslef if I didn't try. Goodbye... Rika..." She ran off towards the two titanic fighters. "Henry... I just want you to know... that you are my best friend... Goodbye..." Terriermon chased after Kyuubimon.  
  
"No!" Henry and Rika cried in unison. Calumon felt strange once more as he watched the two Digimons' heroic decisions. "They're so brave..." He said as he wiped a tear from his eye. A huge beam shot out and hit Kyuubimon and Terriermon.  
  
Digivolution  
  
Terriermon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon!  
  
Matrix Digivolution  
  
Kyuubimon digivolve tooo....  
  
Gargomon digivolve tooo....  
  
Taomon!  
  
Rapidmon!  
  
Mega Digivolution  
  
Taomon digivolve tooo....  
  
Rapidmon digivolve tooo....  
  
Sakuyamon!  
  
SaintGargomon!  
  
The two newly evolved Megas shot off towards ImperialDragoonmon. "Good luck..." Henry said, as he wiped off a tear.  
  
"Die!" ImperialDragoonmon slammed Dukemon to the ground and brought his sword up to slice Dukemon with "Rice Cord!" "Burst Shot!" A cord suddenly wrapped around his hand, restricting him from hitting Dukemon, and dozens of huge missiles hit him in the back. He fell, and turned to see two more combatants entering the fray. "You have to answer to us!" SaintGargomon yelled, as he punched ImperialDragoonmon in the face with an armored fist. ImperialDragoonmon backed up, then flew into the air.  
  
"You'll all die!" He yelled out. "I'm sick of you all!" He held his hands up. "So just die!!!!" He began to gather energy. "Rice Cord!" Sakuyamon yelled again. "Burst Shot!" "Final Elysian!" A cord wrapped around his leg, trying to pull him down. He allowed it to pull him under the Final Elysian, but yanked it afterwards, causing Sakuyamon to fly into the path oif the missiles, which all hit her, and she fell to the ground.  
  
"Are you okay?" SaintGargomon asked Sakuyamon frantically. "I'll be fine... It takes more than that to stop me..." She said. "Jeez, no need to insult my attack power...." He muttered. "Oh well. Giant Missile!" He shot out a missile almost as big as ImperialDragoonmon. It flew toward its intended target.  
  
ImperialDragoonmon's eyes widened. "No!" He yelled as he released his blast into the missile. "You have bothered me for the last time!!!" He yelled as he dived at SaintGargomon like a hawk. "Dragoon Blade!" He yelled, and the sword sliced into SaintGargomon, and he fell to the ground. "Final Elysian!" ImperialDragoonmon heard from behind. The attack hit him and he stumbled. "Hyper Beam!" He yelled, and a blast struck Dukemon in the chest, making him fall to the ground once more.  
  
"And now... you all die..." ImperialDragoonmon said with fire blazing in his eyes. "Vajra Mandala!" Sakuyamon yelled out, and an energy attack hit him. He turned and kicked her, then proceeded to slash her through the stomach. He turned and faced Dukemon again. "You will die first..." He said as he flew upwards. He held his hands up in the air to gather energy once more.  
  
His hands filled with dark energy as he laughed evilly. "You were never a match for me...." He puffed. "You fought well for a while, but in the end, all three of you fell. Just like the rest of the trash I've fought." He laughed as his hands beagan to glow. "And with this final attack, you will be blown away..." "Giant Missile!"  
  
He turned. A tired and hurt SaintGargomon hovered directly above him, and a giant missile was right in front of him! He yelled out as the missile exploded and he shot to the ground. Dukemon took a chance. "Royal Saber!" He yelled as he pointed his saber upwards. ImperialDragoonmon landed on it, speared.  
  
His eyes widened and he gurgled. As he rolled off the saber, he looked at Dukemon. "D....Damn you... three...." He lifted his hand up and pointed it at Dukemon. "H...Hyper..... Hyper...." His hand dropped and he slowly deleted.  
  
The Tamers looked at each other. "You did it!" They ran at their weary Digimon and hugged them. They had won! The battle was finally over! The Tamers found the portal home later that day, and their D-Arcs reopened it. They went back to the home they had, hours ago, thought they may never see again. They went about their lives, with their Digimon with them as usual, and Calumon continued to live in the park, having fun with his friends. They would never forget what happened during their trip to the Digital World, or the sacrifices made by Beelzebumon and many others. It was a long journey, but they had indeed won at last.  
  
The End 


End file.
